Heatherwood Hospital 1974

Picture For Heatherwood

Egham branch of the National Childbirth Trust which takes in Ascot. Sunningdale and Sunninghill has presented a picture to Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot.
It was presented on behalf of the branch by Mrs Valerie Smith, secretary, and was accepted by Sister Mary Newman.
They have not yet decided where the picture will go on display.
Extract Bracknell Times 10/01/1974

 

Matron Leaving Heatherwood

Miss Esme Wadmore, a matron at Heatherwood Hospital for the past eight years, is leaving at the end of this month.
She has been appointed matron at the Star and Garter home for disabled ex-servicemen in Richmond. As a former Army nurse, Miss Wadmore finds that "The common bond which exists between those who have been in the services is still very strong!" Following service in India, Germany, and East Africa, during and after the Second World War, she worked for a time with the late Professor Sir Hugh Cairns at the Neuro-surgical unit at Oxford.
This unit treated serious head and spinal injuries from all over the world, and Miss Wadmore enjoyed "the sense of purpose it gave one".
At the Star and Garter home she expects to be dealing with "all kinds of ex-Servicemen, from 18 to 100".
I have enjoyed my time at Heatherwood, especially the loyalty and spirit of the staff here. but I am still looking forward to my new appointment."
Before moving to the Ascot hospital, Miss Wadmore worked at the Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, and before that she was at the Burlington Green Hospital, London.
Extract Bracknell Times 21/02/1974

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo of Miss Esme Wadmore.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photo here.

 

Ascot Baby Unit Gets Last Minute Reprieve

Ascot's ultra-modern 90 bed maternity unit at Heatherwood Hospital has 'been given a reprieve.
It was thought the unit would be forced to close down after one of the two resident obstetric registrars needed to give essential round-the-clock service, left last weekend, and a replacement. could not be found.
But at the eleventh hour the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board allowed the hospital to employ a locum registrar.
Heatherwood's deputy hospital secretary, Miss Kathleen Excell, said today it was not the board's policy to allocate more than one registrar to the unit.
The one who left had been on loan from St Mary's Hospital. Paddington, since the unit opened two years ago.
But happily the board has agreed to our taking on a locum until March 31 when Heatherwood will be transferred to the Oxford Regional Hospital Board," she said.
Delayed
  The Oxford board has already given us authority to keep the locum after April 1st
" Hospital officials hope the new board can be persuaded that two permanent registrars are necessary to run the unit.
The opening of the £4m unit was delayed by more than six months because the board said it could have only one resident registrar.
But the hospital's medical staff and 30 doctors refused to use the unit until at least two were appointed.
Unless one was always on duty it would be dangerous for mothers to have their babies in the unit, they said.
The unit was therefore allowed to "borrow registrar from Paddington.
Extract Evening Post 22/02/1974

 

Green Belt housing 'one step nearer'

Housing on Green Belt land at Englemere Farm, Ascot, has come a step nearer. Berkshire's planning committee has agreed in principle to the use of the site for residential purposes.
But the committee also decided that further discussions should take place with developers and Maidenhead and Windsor District Council on the future provision for caravan residents in the area before a final decision is taken.
The committee's decision came after an outline application for residential development was submitted by Chansom Ltd.
The firm wants to build on a site of four and a half acres consisting of Englemere Farm and its caravan site which caters for about 40 caravans. Berkshire's county planning officer Mr Robert Stoddart said: "The committee was particularly concerned about the caravan residents. Their future must be considered before a final decision is taken."
The scheme to build on the site has met with opposition in the area. The Society for the Protection of Ascot and Environs has protested about the plan because it claims it would mean further destruction of the Green Belt.
A petition with 35 signatures has also been received from the occupiers of the caravans, objecting to the proposal. It says that 25 per cent of the residents are employed at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, and a further 25 per cent are old age pensioners.
Windsor Rural Council has also opposed the scheme on two grounds. Firstly, it claims approval of the application would cause hardship to the existing residents of the caravan site since there is no other licensed caravan site in the area or suitable land available for an alternative site.
The problems of the local housing authority would be exacerbated because of difficulty in dealing with the ever increasing demand of the housing waiting lists, says the council.
Extract Evening Post 25/03/1974

 

Hospital Plans 'May be Forgotten'

Fears that planned extensions to Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, may be axed after Health Service re-organisation next month were expressed this week.
Heatherwood is one of several hospitals where improvements are planned in the Windsor Group which is to be transferred from the North-West Metropolitan area into the Oxfordshire area.
Mr Jim Steele, secretary of the local branch of the General and Municipal Workers' Union the hospital staff union said: "If we are not very watchful this area will suffer badly. We are on the fringe and likely to be forgotten".
He added: "There is grave concern that when the provisions are made in the Oxfordshire Area budget the Heatherwood extensions. planned by the old board for 1975, will be shelved".
More facilities at Heatherwood, the major hospital responsible for dealing with the expanding East Berkshire population, including Bracknell New Town, are now badly needed, said Mr Steele.
Otherwise, he added, it could mean that local people needing hospital treatment may have to go as far afield as Reading, because of lack of beds in the local group.
Extract Bracknell Times 28/03/1974

 

New Hospital Board Shelves Heatherwood Plan

THE 120-bed extension to Heatherwood Hospital. Ascot, planned as one of the units in its major redevelopment into a regional general hospital. has been postponed indefinitely from the capital expenditure programme.
It was originally listed in the 1974/75 budget. The likelihood of the extension being built at all is now in question.
The new unit, with wards on two floors and four new operating theatres, was first planned by the North West Regional Hospital Board. which was responsible for Heatherwood before the reshuffle of the health authorities. It is now under the jurisdiction of the new Oxford Regional Authority. who within a week of their existence decided to call a halt to the Heatherwood plans.
"There is a complete reappraisal going on." said a spokesman for the board. "We have been given £8.2 million for the region, and £6.2 million is needed for the building programmes already underway. The remainder of the money has had to be divided out thinly. We do, after all. cover four counties."
There is no conjecture from the new board as to whether or not the extension will ever go ahead, but Mr Jim Steele, secretary of the General and Municipal Workers Union has taken up the case. He says that the beds are desperately needed by the hospital.
A spokesman for Heatherwood agreed. "We understand the position," he said, "and no doubt we will have to wait.
"But the need for extra beds is here, it is a reality. If Heatherwood is not developed as a general hospital, that does not preclude a smaller extension going ahead."
The decision to develop Heatherwood as a regional hospital was taken some years ago and the new maternity unit was the first phase to open as part of the development.
The Oxford Regional Authority are now, however, reviewing the whole of Berkshire to see if they agree with the findings of the old North West board,
If so, Heatherwood will eventually grow.
Extract Bracknell Times 25/04/1974

 

Nurses 'Mood at Breaking Point

By Maggie Lett
Nursing staff in hospitals serving Bracknell and Wokingham were this week holding special meetings to decide what action if any to take in support of the national nurses' pay claim. And their mood was described by union officials as "reaching breaking point.
"A decision can be expected next week," said Mr Mike Walsh, secretary of the local branch of the National Union of Public Employees. "At Heatherwood and the Royal Berks hospitals the situation has reached breaking point, and the general feeling is to embark on whatever action is open without endangering patients or making them uncomfortable."
There are about 160 nursing members of the NUPE in the Bracknell district alone and a special union officer has been appointed to deal specifically with the nurses' problem.
Their claim is for an increased offer over the £18 million offered so far, but payable only to ranks from Staff Nurse and higher.
"The greatest difficulty is with ranks below staff nurse." said Mr Walsh, "and this is the wage which affects recruitment. We are not saying that the staff nurses are well off. What we are saying is that the lower ranks are even worse off."
Wage breakdown.
  Senior nursing officer at Church Hill House Hospital in Bracknell, Mr Harold Margetts, gave the following wage breakdown:
A nursing assistant gets under £20 a week; an enrolled nurse a basic wage of about £22 a week, but only after two years' experience; a staff nurse earns just over £24 a week after three years; and a charge nurse or ward sister merits £31. This is all before stoppages.
'They are angry and rightly so'
  "When people are faced with salaries like that," said Mr Margetts, "they cannot even think of buying a house. They are angry, and rightly So.
Mrs Margetts does not, however, believe that his staff are so angry that strike action will be taken. "I have enough faith in my staff to think that they wouldn't go on strike." he said. "They are angry, and they would probably march in a procession, but I don't think they are angry enough to leave the wards.
The NUPE in fact recognises the special position of nursing staff at hospitals like Church Hill House, where the nurses have to take care of mentally handicapped patients.
But at the same time Mr Walsh said that some of these special hospitals are working under impossible conditions. "I went to a meeting in one hospital for the severely mentally handicapped on Monday night," he said. "There was one auxiliary nurse there looking after three wards for the whole night shift.
If there was an emergency it would be catastrophic, and the reason why there is no staff is because of the pay situation." One nurse at Church Hill House said that she sometimes had to work more than 12 hours a day on consecutive days.
Mr Walsh said pressure was being enforced on a national level to get the Government to take notice. Nurses themselves are always reluctant to take any kind of militant. action, other than marches and banner waving to draw the public's attention to their plight
"It is not uncommon for a nurse to have to work a 70-hour week," said Mr Walsh. "And for what? There are many hospitals where the majority of the nursing staff consists of auxiliaries because they cannot get enough fully trained staff.
"The Government must look at all ways and means open to give the nurses extra money, without having to further cut back on the hospital building programme.
The nurses are reaching the end of the line, and something will have to be done."
Extract Bracknell Times 16/05/1974

 

'We Intend to Cause a Bit of Havoc'

"Striking nurses will halt traffic"
By Stewart Payne
Demonstrating nurses are expected to bring rush-hour traffic to a halt on the busy London Road. Ascot, as they walk out of Heatherwood Hospital, on Monday morning. And further action may be on the way, a nurses' spokesman has warned.
A Berkshire MP was being urged today to give his full support for the nurses' campaign for better pay and conditions.
About 50 banner waving nurses will parade backwards and forwards across London Road on a token 15 minute strike in support of their claim.
But the nurses have assured the hospital management that enough nurses will remain behind to continue normal hospital services.
nurses' spokesman. Sister Wendy Morris, said: "We have sat around long enough. Now we are going to take action."
And she warned that unless their pay dispute is settled soon, they may consider taking further action although she ruled out the possibility of a strike. Sister Morris explained that the walkout is not backed by any of the nursing unions.
"We are just a group of angry nurses appalled by our pay conditions," she said. "I belong to the Royal College of Nursing but many belong to other associations. Some don't even belong to a union at all.
Militant
  "We decided on the strike on the spur of the moment. We had heard comments that nurses at Heatherwood were just sitting back while the national campaign for better pay went on. I mentioned this to the other nurses and we decided on the walk-out.
"I was surprised that they were so militant. Normally we I would never consider taking this sort of action. This goes to show how deeply committed nurses are to this campaign. "The conditions of pay are terrible. If industry workers were paid the same as us there would be a lot of trouble. Now that we have the chance to take action we will do so."
All levels of nursing staff. from student to sister. are expected to take part in the demonstration. We will walk slowly back and forth across the road to cause a bit of havoc." said Sister Morris. Their banners will proclaim:
"We care do you?" and "Our patients need us we need your patience."
"We will be leaving two nurses in each ward to look after the patients," she said.
Miss Kathleen Excell, deputy secretary of Heatherwood Hospital, said: "As they are only out for a short while I don't anticipate any problems."
Extract Evening Post 18/05/1974

 

'We're With You, Nurse'

Patients wheel out out to support Ascot Nurses
Angry nurses who demonstrated outside an Ascot hospital today were supported by patients in wheelchairs who came out to cheer them on.
This happened as leaders of Britain's 360,000 nurses were preparing to meet Mr Wilson this afternoon to press their claim for more pay.
The demonstration brought chaos to the busy roundabout outside Heatherwood Hospital. At Basingstoke, three wards have been closed in the psychiatric wing of the general hospital because of a nurses overtime ban which started yesterday.
But most nurses in the Thames Valley area were prepared to wait for the outcome of this afternoon's talks.
No action has been taken in Reading. Wokingham, west Berkshire or south Oxfordshire.
At Ascot the nurses were more militant. About 100 members of the hospital staff took part in the demonstration there, some accompanied by their children.
Led by Sister Wendy Morris, the nurses were supported by junior doctors, radiographers and physiotherapists as the demonstration spilled across the busy main road.
The marchers carried banners saying: "We're nursing a grievance," "dedication doesn't pay the bills" and "help us Harold."
Ban
The demonstration was held on the spur of the moment, said Sister Morris, because the nurses heard comments that Heatherwood was just sitting back while the campaign for better pay went on.
The march lasted about 15 minutes, causing long queues of rush hour traffic, but two nurses were left in each ward while it went on.
The 12 unions involved in the pay claim are refusing to negotiate over a pay offer totalling £18 million by Mrs Castle because it only applies to a third of the nurses. Male nurse Roy Knighton nearly doubled his pay today by becoming a bus conductor. Roy, 24, earned £13 a week as a nursing assistant at Ilkeston General Hospital. Derbyshire, but now he gets almost twice as much with the Midland General Bus Company.
Extract Evening Post 20/05/1974

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo Ascot nurses got support from patients John Stacey, left, of Bray, John Holmes, of Crowthorne, and Albert Chalker, of Bracknell.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photo here.

 

Nurses' Overtime ban goes on and strikes in sight

The three-week overtime ban by 700 nurses at Basingstoke General Hospital on Sunday in support of their national pay claim was continuing today. And in Cheshire, nurses have decided on a 24-hour strike.
Mr Patrick Cantwell, branch secretary of the Confederation of Health Service Employees which has organised the ban, was not available for comment.
But a hospital official said the ban was still in force and there was no indication that it would be lifted.
At Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, Sister Wendy Morris, who yesterday led a demonstration outside the hospital, said they would now hang fire until Mr. Wilson's decision is eventually known.
"There is nothing much we I can do now for the next two weeks except wait," she said. "If we still don't get what we want, we may consider taking similar action to the demonstration that we staged yesterday, but we cannot keep doing things like that because everybody will get fed up. There is still absolutely no possibility of the nurses here taking strike action."
Nurses at a Cheshire hospital today decided to stage a 24-hour strike on June 3-the day that the Whitley Council meets over their pay. The Government gained a breathing space yesterday when a 12-strong deputation of nursing and union leaders to Downing Street agreed to give Mr Wilson a few more weeks to come up with an acceptable pay offer.
But the pressure is still on as the 70,000-strong COHSE continues with strike preparations.
Extract Evening Post 21/05/1974

 

Happy Heatherwood Demo Stops Traffic

By Maggie Lett
Over 100 nurses, doctors and patients marched out of Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, on Monday morning in a mass demonstration in support of the nurses' national pay claim.
Traffic was brought to a standstill as the nurses marched with banners across the roundabout outside the hospital, and patients in wheelchairs lined-up with domestic staff on the pavement cheering them on.
"Our patients need us. Our patience needs you," was written one placard. "The NHS is used and abused." said said another. "We care for you; do you care for us?"
The demonstration, organised by Sister Wendy Morris, lasted about 20 minutes. The marchers came out through the main gate of Heatherwood, waving banners as they made their way across the road and up to the roundabout.
Police from Ascot stopped the traffic. Drivers lowered their windows and shouted out encouragement as nurses crossed and re-crossed the main roads meeting at the junction.
Fabulous
"It was a fabulous demonstration," said Sister Morris as the nurses filed back to the wards. "Much better than I had ever hoped."
Hospital authorities supported the nurses' action, and helped to keep the wards manned while the nurses marched.
Radiographers and physiotherapists joined the nurses and the expected line. up of 50 walkers swelled to twice that number in one of the most impressive demonstrations in the whole of the national claim.
"We're all in full support," said Mr Albert Chalker. speaking on behalf of the patients. Mr Chalker has been in Heatherwood for three weeks with a slipped disc and expects to be there for another three weeks.
"All the patients are right behind the nurses," he said in his wheelchair parked at the gates of Heatherwood. "We are discussing writing to our MPs offering support. The nurses are fighting for increased pay and better working conditions. The basic rates mean that a nursing assistant gets only £20 a week, while up the scale a ward sister gets only £31. This is all before stoppages. Staff recruitment is thus at a standstill.
Not militant
"It's cheap labour," said Sister Morris." We are not a militant crowd, we are here to nurse the sick. But you get fed up doing it for peanuts. Nurses are not militant, but the situation is getting too much for us to sit down and do nothing.
"We in this hospital do not work overtime, because we are not allowed to. "The system is that if we do. work more than our 40 hours. in theory it is for time off, but in practice it is for nothing. For weekends we earn time-and-one-fifth. It's degrading Sister Morris said that some wards with 40 patients are staffed only by two nurses. one of whom will inevitably be an auxiliary "The girls start at £800 a year," she said." Out of that is taken money for their lodgings, then they have to buy their food. It is pay as you eat, and most of them live on chips because that is the cheapest meal in the canteen.
Terrible
"We are working under terrible conditions and no-one seems to be doing anything about it," said Sister Morris. "We are not going to be so stupid anymore, to sit back and wait for a handout. It's time for us to do something ourselves."
The Heatherwood action was just part of a concerted move all over the country by nursing staff. Further action will be taken by the Ascot nurses if no satisfactory pay award is offered by the Government.
Extract Bracknell Times 23/05/1974

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by three photos.
The first showed Heatherwood student nurse Julia Holland, (19),who has a special plea for the Prime Minister Mr Harold Wilson.
The second showed Nurses in cheerful but militant mood marched in order with banners designed to win support for their pay claim.
The third showed Patients who came out in sympathy. John Stacey of Bray, Albert Chalker of Bracknell and John Holmes of Crowthorne offered vocal support to the nurses, helped by the domestic staff seen in the background.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photos here.

 

Dedication In Lieu of Cash

Adam McKinley's Column The demonstration this week by Heatherwood Hospital nurses in support of their national pay claim was a sad, yet beautiful sight.
Sad because it should not have been necessary; beautiful because there is nothing quite so lovely, in a uniform, as the average nurse. Even in the throes of not yet angry militancy, these girls displayed a cheerfulness and dignity worthy of much more attention than the casual wave from dozens of motorists on the main London Road at Ascot speeding off to their city offices.
By disrupting the traffic for abut 20 minutes, the girls drew a collection of tolerant grins and not a few wolf whistles from the occupants of passing cars. The nurses made the morning sunshine a great deal brighter, even if the object of the exercise was to emphasise the gloom of their existence.
I wonder how many drivers gave another thought to the plight of these girls? How many lifted a telephone or a pen during that day and contacted their MP, to ask what the hell he was doing about getting a square deal, or any sort of deal, for these underpaid and overworked lassies? How many sent telegrams to Harold Wilson, Esq. I would like to hear from anyone who took some sort of positive action. In fact he can have my Sunday Bowler Award, which I never gamble with unless I am on a good thing.
In the last year I have spent a considerable time in hospital. I can think of no finer exercise in humility not one of my stronger points.
My respect and admiration for nurses is based principally on my own experience. Unfortunately, they have been fed on respect and admiration for years in lieu of cash. They are fed up to the teeth with being paid out in platitudes, and dined in treacly emotions sloppily garnished with Sauce a la Dedication.
The extent of the dedication of the nursing profession is probably without parallel in our society. The girls at Heatherwood work hard and long for little monetary reward. This is the rule rather than the exception in hospitals throughout the country.
Nurses are probably the only section of our working community still being used as slave labour. That's rather strong language and it is meant to be. I won't load you with statistics but there are a few vital ones that even the prettiest nurses are not encouraged to talk about. Try these for size:
A student nurse begins her nursing career on £15.70 a week. She is everybody's skivvy and treated like a child much of the time. But because of necessity and staff shortages, is often responsible for a ward full of chronically sick, or mostly elderly and incontinent old folk for many hours of the day and night.
Staff nurses and sisters are poorly paid. Below these grades is just damned disgraceful.
Last April nurses were given a so-called pay rise, within Phase 3. At the same time the cost of their hospital food went up by about 150 per cent. Yes, they were on a hiding to nothing all right.
Even the placards of the Heatherwood girls read somehow like a cry from the heart this week, somewhat rare in the topsy turvy. angry field of industrial relations. "We care... do you? Help us Harold!"
It would appear that we don't care enough. What Harold will do remains to be seen. Mrs Barbara Castle and Mr Michael Foot, the Ministers concerned, know what the score is. They are on £16,000 a year each. Comparisons are odious, all right. And there is nothing more odious than a nurse's lot. Nurses and their auxiliaries must not be forced into a position where Government demands that they destroy the National Health Service to get what amounts to a living wage.
Hospitals have been on so-called priority lists for years over wages, but nothing effective has happened. Michael Foot bent the rules for the miners and rightly so in my book. He doesn't have to do much bending to meet the immediate needs of hospital staffs.
Heatherwood has many problems, and is only really operating at half-cock, and certainly far from capacity.
Nurses will not go on indefinitely cheerfully carrying the can. Sister Anna will only carry the banner so long.
I would like to hear the voices of Dr Gerry Vaughan, Bill van Straubenzee and Dr Glyn raised loud and clear in the Commons. Let them harry Mrs Castle and Mr Foot. In fact let them carry Sister Anna's banner. Not one of them can truthfully say he carried it last time.
Of course they might be deterred by thoughts of taking over from the Socialists in a month or two, and having to make good any promises made now. An excellent test of character, if I may be so bold.
A matter of weeks ago I watched youngsters still in their teens wallowing with a will in all the gruesome gore of human suffering. more often than not with all the attendant filth that defies description. In that hospital they emerged with morale-boosting smiles apparently none the worse.
It was easy to lie in a comfortable hospital bed and mutter, as so many did:" Aren't they wonderful? I don't know how they do it."
Truth is we know damned well HOW they do it. We may have difficulty understanding why. Recruiting for the nursing profession is in a lamentable state.
It will continue to be until the government realises that the nation owes these girls much, and they must be paid in full.
Having watched some students' undemocratic antics at Essex University in the cause of democracy by suppression, as well as a collection of some other State-aided layabouts at Bracknell magistrates' court this week, I have come to the conclusion the nurses' problem should not be difficult to solve.
Simply give them priority over things like student grants. I have no objection in principle to student grants, but it is that great unwashed section of the student population who neither work nor want, who stick in my gullet. Meanwhile, nurses cannot afford to continue nursing. Crazy old world.
Well done, Heatherwood, and particularly Sister Wendy Morris who organised Monday's march, and saw to it that not one Heatherwood patient was in any way inconvenienced or neglected.
Extract Bracknell Times 23/05/1974

 

Hospital quiz

Following complaints from people in Bracknell about the time it takes to get to Heatherwood Hospital questionnaire.
Those going to the hospital will be asked from which area of the New Town they came, the mode of travel. who they came with, and the length of the journey.
Extract Bracknell Times 23/05/1974

 

'Country is Being Very Unfair to the Nurses'

The Liberal Prospective Parliamentary candidate for Windsor and Maidenhead is backing nurses pay claims following a visit to Heatherwood hospital in Ascot.
"I am convinced the country is being very unfair to the nurses." Mr George Kahan says. "The majority of nurses do not wish to see their patients suffer and are therefore not prepared to strike.
The Government is taking advantage of this.
"Last weekend the Liberal Party Council passed a resolution fully supporting the claims of the nurses and other hospital staff for better pay and conditions.
"People in the country must realise that we cannot afford to treat nurses as skivvies, and that if we want the sick to be adequately looked after we must pay hospital staff properly and generally improve working conditions."
Extract Evening Post 12/06/1974

 

No New Heatherwood Demos

Nurses in local hospitals have been asked to hang fire until the report of the independent inquiry set up to examine the nurses' case has been published.
The report is due out in August. Officials of the National Union of Public Employees warn, however, that militant action may still be taken if the findings of the report are not satisfactory.
Mr Mike Walsh, secretary of the local branch of the NUPE. says that the union is "fairly confident" that a reasonable settlement will be reached. after negotiation. "We have advised the nurses not to take any action. even though we sincerely appreciate their predicament and despite the lack of any major success on their behalf so far." he said.
"At last we have an independent inquiry set up into the pay and conditions of service of the nursing staff. and we have the opportunity to give evidence to the committee.
"Conditions are deplorable and the nursing shortage is acute," said Mr Walsh, "but the NUPE sees no point in taking any further militant action until we see what comes out of the committee's report."
Nurses at Heatherwood Hospital have meanwhile called off their threat of further demonstrations outside the hospital during Royal Ascot week.
Sister Wendy Morris, who organised last month's march with over 100 of the staff from the hospital in support of the national claim, said that she feels further demonstrations at this time would only aggravate the situation.
"I don't belong to the NUPE so I don't listen to them," she said. "I belong to the Royal College of Nursing together with most of the nurses from Heatherwood.
"But I don't think that we will be taking any further industrial action until the report of the independent inquiry is out. Until then it would be silly to carry on."
Extract Bracknell Times 13/06/1974

 

Kahan meets Nurses at Heatherwood

People must realise that they cannot afford to treat nurses as skivvies. George Kahan. Liberal Party prospective Parliamentary candidate for Windsor and Maidenhead, said this week.
He said he had paid a visit to Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot to discuss present pay-demand situation and now he was convinced the country was being very unfair to its,nurses.
The majority of nurses do not wish to see their patients suffer, and are therefore not prepared to strike. The Government is taking advantage of this."
Mr Kahan said earlier this month the Liberal Party Council has passed a resolution fully supporting the claims of nurses and other hospital staff for better pay and conditions.
"If we want the sick to be adequately looked after, we must pay hospital staff properly and generally improve their working conditions."
Extract Bracknell Times 13/06/1974

 

Fete Hit by Staff Shortage

Nursing staff shortages at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital means nurses will not be able to help run this year's hospital fete.
The announcement was made by Hospital secretary. Mr Derek Fairman at the annual general meeting of the hospital's League of Friends. He repeated the news that wards may have to close down and said that under these circumstances he could not ask the nurses to help run the fete as they have been doing for the past few years.
All the work of the fete on Saturday, September 7, will now rest on the shoulders of the League of Friends.
Profit
Uncertainty about the hospital's future due to its transfer this year from the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board to the Oxford Regional Hospital Board had curtailed the League's activities this year. said the chairman, Mr Ron Mason.
Extract Bracknell Times 17/06/1974

 

Heatherwood Nurses Shelve Demo

A demonstration planned for Ascot's Ladies Day, by nurses at Heatherwood Hospital, in support of a pay claim, was shelved by them in the interests of security.
When the nurses held their last 'demo' march around the Ascot roundabout outside the hospital, the police, they say. "were very good to us."
Said a nurse spokesman: "In view of the security problems they are facing during Ascot week we felt the least we could do was not to add to their troubles."
Instead the nurses placed banners outside the hospital stating their case.
Extract Bracknell Times 27/06/1974

 

Ex-Ascot man dies in Rhodesia

Retired Ascot solicitor and founder member of Ascot Rotary Club, Mr John Coxwell, died suddenly last week in Salisbury, Rhodesia. He was in his early seventies. Two years ago, Mr Coxwell and his wife left Ascot and retired to Salisbury, where Mr Coxwell spent his early childhood. His father was the 21st white man to settle in what is now Salisbury.
During his years in Ascot. Mr Coxwell was an untiring voluntary worker in many fields.
In 1948, he was a founder member of Ascot Rotary Club. and continued his involvement in Rotary in Salisbury.
For 13 years, he was chairman of Sunninghill Parish Council; a Sunninghill Fuel Allotment Trustee for 20 years; chairman of Heatherwood in Hospital League of Friends for 14 years and along time people's warden and parochial church councillor at Sunningdale Parish Church. He was also honorary solicitor to the Animal Health Trust, the Poodle Club and the Pekinese Club. He had also been President of the South of England Airedale Terrier Club.
Extract Evening Post 08/07/1974

 

Tribute to Ascot Nurses

I am 61 years of age and I have been a patient in Heatherwood Hospital. Ascot, twice. and I expect to go into hospital again.
Here is my tribute to the nurses and staff of Heatherwood:
"The Nightingales of Heatherwood"
The sound of their voices are as sweet as a song.
They shorten the day when it seems very long.
They tend to the sick, the lame, and the halt.
Their days can be trying, yet they never find fault.
Their wages are poor, their thanks sometimes less.
Yet they carry on bravely. sometimes under great stress.
A nice cup of tea, a shot in the arm They are all freely given to keep us from harm.
The doctors are experts very good at their "trade" But the "Finishing Foremen" are the nurses.
'tis said.
A cranky old patient. a cheeky young man,
They can handle the lot with a touch of their hand.
Their touch can be firm, or their touch can be light.
Their magical fingers are on call day and night.
So pause for a moment and think of their lot.
These wonderful ladies, the Birds of Ascot. S. Lynch. 52 Harcourt Road. Bracknell.
Extract Bracknell Times 11/07/1974

 

Ascot X-Ray Staff Back Pay Claim

Radiographers at Heatherwood Hospital. Ascot have voted in favour of supporting the nine-day course of action proposed by the Radiographers Association to press for à wage claim, and a complete work stoppage has not been ruled out,
Altogether there are 10 radiographers at Heatherwood, some of whom are employed on a part-time basis. They are sticking to the policy laid down by the Radiographers Association." said a hospital spokesman yesterday.
"If the decision is go ahead with the nine-day-policy, then of course it would affect Heatherwood."
Area secretary of the, National Union of Public Employees. Mr. Mike Walsh. said this week that no definite plan has yet been formulated. could involve nine consecutive days, or just one day each week." he said.
"But these nine days have been set aside to draw attention to their case. and if the radiographers do not get a satisfactory offer. then it could mean a complete stoppage."
No date has yet been set for the action.
Extract Bracknell Times 18/07/1974

 

Hundreds Hit In Hospital Strike

The threat of considerable delays in X-ray treatment for thousands of people in Berkshire and Hampshire loomed nearer today as radiographers started a three-day strike.
But hospital chiefs have been assured that all emergency X-ray work will continue. The three-day strike the most militant action taken so far by the radiographers support of a national pay claim. The men held a lightning strike last Friday and have warned that there will be more to come.
The shut-down of all routine X-ray facilities is likely to result in delays in the weeks to come-especially if the strike continues. Already hundreds of people due to receive treatment this week have been told to stay at home, and GP's have been instructed not to send any more patients to hospitals
At least nine hospitals in the area have been hit by the action involving some 35 radiographers.
The radiographers have reported for work as usual today but will treat only the cases considered as urgent by consultant medical staff.
West Berkshire health administrator, Mr Stewart Hinder, said "The action will cause a back-log of admissions and will cause considerable inconvenience to the public.
But we have taken every possible step to keep the inconvenience to a minimum."
The men will return to normal working on Friday but have threatened further one-day strikes on August 1, 6. 14, 23, and 28.
The action has been advised by the men's union The Society of Radiographers.
They are claiming up to 50 per cent rises on wages of £23 to £27 a week for qualified staff.
Among hospitals expected to be affected are; Park Hospital. Slough; Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot: Upton Hospital, Slough: King Edward Hospital. Windsor: and Royal Berkshire Hospital. and Battle Hospital, Reading: and Basingstoke General in Hampshire.
Extract Evening Post 23/07/1974

 

Work To Rule

The 10 radiographers at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot. this week joined their colleagues throughout the country and stopped work in support of a pay claim.
The X-ray technicians are working an emergency service only, with a skeleton staff on call to deal with any urgent cases.
Extract Bracknell Times 25/07/1974

 

All quiet at Ascot hospital

Radiographers at Heatherwood Hospital, who belong to their professional society. have called off their strike action after a meeting with Mrs Barbara Castle, Secretary of State for Health.
The Society of Radiographers' executive committee met with Mrs Castle Thursday last week, and decided to continue to co-operate with the Halsbury Committee Inquiry, and withdraw their industrial action.
The radiographers had been operating one-day strikes each week, when they did no work except emergencies. Radiographers who belong to NALGO had already stopped their industrial action of cutting all services down to 10 per cent.
The hospital is now running normally with none of the unions involved in pay talks taking any industrial action.
Extract Bracknell Times 08/08/1974

 

Heatherwood Engineer Speaks Out

I would like to comment on last week's front page item headlined "Strike Threat to Heatherwood" in your edition of the 1st August, 1974.
There is only one professional engineer at Heatherwood Hospital (myself), and as he has not been away from work, it seems strange to suggest that he is going back" to work.
The professional engineers (me again) are receiving an interim pay award of 18 per cent, not 20 per cent. After 19 years in the Health Service. I have climbed to the top rate of pay which means that I will go from £2.535 to £3,000.
The NALGO members (me again) would not necessarily have reduced laundry facilities to 10 per cent, but they would have carried out the Union's request by not putting back into use machinery which may have broken down.
The meeting with Mrs Castle was only successful from the management's point of view in that she was able to get the unions involved to call off their industrial action. The dispute is far from being settled.
The action of Works Department staff throughout the country is not entirely selfish to increase their own salary scales. There are many responsible engineers and building supervisors who wish see a proper career structure with suitable salary scales which will attract new entrants to the service.
There has been a vacancy for an assistant engineer at Heatherwood Hospital for 10 months: this has been advertised both nationally and locally, but not one suitable applicant has applied.
The new salary scale for assistant engineers is from £2.270 to £2,600, and I doubt that this will attract anyone with the qualifications and experience required.
H. Manton, 9 Greenhow, Bracknell.
Extract Bracknell Times 08/08/1974

 

Forsyth for Fete

Bruce Forsyth, compere of the popular BBC television Generation Game, will officially open the annual Heatherwood Hospital League of Friends Fete in the hospital grounds at Ascot at 2pm on Saturday.
Extract Evening Post 17/09/1974

 

Ascot

Bruce Forsyth will be at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, on Saturday, to open the hospital fete at 2pm.
The fete is organised by the League of Friends of Heatherwood and is to raise money to buy new earphones for the patients' bedside radio.
Extract Bracknell Times 19/09/1974

 

Nice to see you Bruce Forsyth at Heatherwood Hospital Fete

"Nice to see you, to see you nice." crooned Bruce Forsyth as he strolled through the wards Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, on Saturday after opening the annual fete.
He stopped and talked to the patients, cracking jokes and asking them what they had done to get into the hospital.
The atmosphere of the fete taking place outside in cold winds was brought into the warm wards for everyone to enjoy.
The League of Friends of Heatherwood Hospital were pleased at the huge turn-out of people who crowded on the rough grass in the middle of the hospital complex and spent their money for the benefit of the patients.
The money raised will be spent on a new patients' radio service. The present one is regarded by many as due for retirement.
Helping the people to spend their money were the Lions Club and a group of people from the British Glass Blowing Society who gave demonstrations on making glass animals.
Bruce Forsyth was presented with two glass Bambi's by the society.
Nice to see you There was something for all ages in all the sideshows, stalls, guessing games, and events. For children who wanted to get off their feet for a while there were pony rides and train rides.
Many of the wards held their own stalls inside or in a corridor, attracting welcome visitors to the patients. Some of them who could get out and about with a little help, ventured outside and mingled with the crowd.

Extract Bracknell Times 26/09/1974

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by six photos.
The first showed On a tour of the wards Bruce Forsyth stops for a chat with Mr Frank Will cocks.
The Second photo Among the many visitors to the fete were members of the Masden family from Martin's Drive, Wokingham. Left to right are Rob Masden, Mrs Beryl Masden and Philip Masden. In the wheelchair, as the result of a broken leg. is eight-year-old Linda Masden.
The third photo Bruce Forsyth with a group of happy youngsters in the children's ward.
The Fourth photo Sister Wendy Morris and Nurse Kathy Waters with Bruce Forsyth's autograph on their cap and skirt.
The Fifth photo Mr Derek Newell making glass animals at the fete. This demonstration attracted a lot of interest from the visitors.
The sixth photo Kathryn and lain Hubberley with a Teddy Bear they won at the fete.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photos here.

 

Hospital Patients Have Waterbeds

Long-stay patients at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital now have a chance of sleeping on a waterbed, thanks to the W.R.V.S. WRVS centre organiser for the Ascot area. Mrs Mary Hutchinson yesterday presented two waterbeds to hospital secretary Mr Derek Fairman.
Both beds cost about £300 each and are already in use in the orthopaedic wards.
Occupant of one is 82 year old Mrs May Farrar of Glebelands. Wokingham She has already spent a couple of weeks in the bed Her verdict "very comfortable."
Because the mattress is filled with water which is heated thermostatically, it moves as the patient moves. This means there is no pressure on any one point of the patient's body This in turn prevents bedsores.
The hospital secretary was delighted with the beds. "Patients confined to bed in one of these do not have to be turned in to a different position so often which is a tremendous saving on nurse-power. This is very useful when nurses are in short supply"
The money for the beds came from the profits made by the WRVS on their outpatients canteen and the trolley shop which they take round the wards.
Extract Evening Post 02/10/1974

 

Nurses Angry at Pay Deal

Heatherwood A strike meeting was called at Heatherwood Hospital, in Ascot, last Wednesday, by nurses who have still not received their pay award from six months ago.
But the meeting was so poorly attended that the proposal: for strike action put by one group of nurses at the hospital has fallen through.
The delay in getting the money has arisen because the pay award came with a whole restructuring of the pay grading for nursing staff.
Final details are still being drawn up to cover the national situation, then the increased pay levels should be back-dated.
"People are annoyed at the delay, and I can understand why," said Sister Wendy Morris (pictured right), a steward for the Royal College of Nursing at Heatherwood. "We are still only getting leaflets on how the new pay structure will work, but I think we should get the money by about January.
"Reports that Heatherwood nurses will be going out on strike are just not true," she said.
Militant action was taken at the hospital in May, when over 100 nurses, doctors and patients marched out of Heatherwood in a mass demonstration in support of the national wage claim Traffic was brought to a standstill.
but work at the hospital carried on with the protest march lasting only about 20 minutes.
The Government offered the pay award a few weeks later.
with the promise of a complete review of the hospital pay system Sister Morris said this week that Heatherwood was the only hospital where a mood of militancy had been reported.
Extract Bracknell Times 24/11/1974

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photo here.

 

Party time For The Companions

The Good Companions pub. Loddon Bridge Road, Woodley, couldn't be more aptly named for that is certain what the landlord and his customers are proved it by giving a party for pensioners in the area. Explained landlord Mr John Richardson:
"We invite any of our customers who are pensioners, and we tell them to bring their friends, then we rake in anyone else we can find" This year John and his wife Maureen had so many guests more than 80 that their friends Brian and Rita Marriot who keep the Falcon in Woodley offered a large room.
There the visitors were kept well supplied with free drinks and food and Good Companions regulars even provided free transport too.
"We have a collecting bottle on the counter and we collect throughout the year, with things like sponsorships for doing silly things," said Mr Richardson.
The party isn't the only gesture they make towards aiding the elderly: "We've only been here 18 months, but the pub has got a bit of a reputation for this. We've just collected £150 for a bed for old people at Heatherwood Hospital," he said.
Extract Evening Post 20/12/1974

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photo here.

 

Ascot

There will be a children's party at Heatherwood Hospital on Sunday at 3pm, with special invites extended to long-term patients who left the hospital before Christmas.
Adding a touch of unusual colour to the proceedings will be a fancy dress parade of costumes from Billy Smart's Circus.
Extract Bracknell Times 24/12/1974