A recent air ambulance advert gives a powerful message as to how important it is to have expert medical teams and equipment on hand for trauma patients: "Every minute that passes the chances of survival slip away."

Not only does west Herts not have a hospital with a helipad, the not-fit-for-purpose buildings of Watford General Hospital are on the outskirts of the community it serves.

The roads leading to Vicarage Road are often congested, making it difficult to get to Watford General Hospital.

This is before it potentially becomes a major construction site, should the A&E hospital redevelopment go-ahead.

There is also the continuation of the Riverwell regeneration project with the building of hundreds of flats surrounding the hospital.

Common sense tells us that Vicarage Road is not the right location to have west Herts' only A&E hospital: "Every minute that passes the chances of survival slip away."

£350 million should be invested in the best long-term hospital solution. Only a new "state of the art" A&E hospital, with a helipad, in a more central and accessible West Herts location will give the majority of west Herts residents the fastest and fairest access to west Herts A&E hospital's major trauma unit.

"Every minute that passes the chances of survival slip away."

Andrew Love,

St Albans