There is no recommended minimum or maximum patient travelling time to hospitals with accident and emergency departments in England. However, I would expect any public consultations on the proposed reconfiguration of acute health services—including, in Hertfordshire, those that have taken place and those that may be planned—to include discussions about the effect of the proposals on the time taken by patients to accident and emergency departments. Local primary care trusts and NHS trusts talk to their clinical, patient and wider health community when a change to service delivery is necessary.