Heatherwood Hospital 1975

How They Spent Christmas

Unforgettable Day For All At Heatherwood
  Said six-year-old Daren Austin: "It's not really Father Christmas, it's one of the doctors dressed up." He was quite emphatic about it.
But, two presents later. he wasn't quite so sure. How could a doctor have so many presents? Could it be the real Father Christmas?
Darren, who lives at Cox Green, Bracknell, was one of the 13 children in Ward Two at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, who were not able to go home for the festive season. But this did not seem to worry Darren, who was quite able to walk about the ward to see what was going on.
There was a small Christmas tree at each bedside, and a large one which was used by Father Christmas-alias Dr Colin Campbell during the morning.
And there were some professional looking decorations in the ward, which had been augmented by decorations made by the children themselves.
The presents came from the League of Friends of the hospital, and from parents and friends of the patients, aged between six months and 11 years.
And there were not just presents for the patients the staff were remembered, too. For the nurses, it was just part of their life in the hospital.
For the patients, it was a Christmas it will take a long time to forget.
Extract Bracknell Times 02/01/1975

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by three photos.
The first showed Nurses Margaret Rennie, Tina Waters and Paula Hubbard (left to right) pictured at Heatherwood, pictured with some of the children.
The second showed ALL aboard the Christmas sleigh Santa poses with some of the staff at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, on Christmas Day. well not quite!
The third showed A Christmas dream come true for any small child. Samantha Ragget, aged three, receives a visit from Santa at Heatherwood Hospital on Christmas Day.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photos 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 02/01/1975

 

Heatherwood Consultants Not Co-operating

The hospital consultants' dispute with the Government over the new form of contract covering their work within the National Health Service took its effect at Heatherwood. Hospital, Ascot, this week as consultants refused to see more than the minimum number of patients at clinic sessions.
The consultants, members of the British Medical Association and the Hospital Consultants Association, have not refused to hold the clinics, nor have the hours been cut. But a hospital spokesman said that there was a delay in cases being called.
"There is a reduction in the number of people going through the clinics," said the spokesman, "but consultants are seeing the urgent cases.
There is some delay in other patients being called." The consultant started the policy of non-co-operation at Heatherwood last Thursday.
It is not known how long the dispute is likely to go on before normal work.

Extract Bracknell Times 09/01/1975

 

New Year Twins

Mrs Janet Scott of Staverton Close, Bracknell, wished her husband Roger a Happy New Year in the nicest possible way, by presenting him with twins, a son and daughter, on New Year's morning.
Baby Andrew weighed in at 6lb 15oz at 2am, and his sister Julia arrived half-an-hour later at 5lb 14 1/2 oz.
Having twins was something of a surprise for 30 year-old Mrs Scott who has no history of twins in her family or her husband's. "We were told I was going to have twins, some time before they were born," she said.
The Scotts already have two children. Angela years and Jacqueline aged three and a half years. Now Mr Scott faces the prospect of three weddings to finance, and a son who looks like having to be very bossy to cope with three sisters!
Mother and babies are doing very well in Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, where four babies arrived on New Year's Day.
Mr Scott who is a fireman in London, now firmly says that the family is complete and the way he looks after the two latest members he is obviously overjoyed with his New Year "gift."
Extract Bracknell Times 09/01/1975

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.The photo showed Mr & Mrs Scott and the new arrivals.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photos here.

 

Nurses Cool Towards Claim By NALGO

An overall pay rise of 30 per cent for all nurses and a shorter working week has been called for by the National and Local Government Officers' Association.
But some nurses at Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot say they are happy with what they have got.
Nalgo has only 40 members in the Wokingham and Bracknell area, most of them being at manager or supervisor level. But the union has urged its fellow union representatives on the Nurses and Midwives Whitley Council to table the 30 per cent claim by the end of the month.
For 18-year-old student nurses last year they wanted £30 a week, but with inflation the minimum now should be nearly £34 a week, Nalgo says. At the moment the lowest paid nurses receive only £21 a week. Nalgo also wants the present threshold awards of £4.40 a week consolidated into present salaries. They also call for a 35-hour week, instead of the present 40-hour week.
The union also wants a better deal for TB visitors and school nurses without health visitors' certificates.
Mr Jeff Williams, Nalgo branch secretary of Berkshire Area Health Authority, said last week: "The object of this claim is to create good enough conditions so we can recruit more people into the profession, which is something we are not able to do at the present." But at Heatherwood Hospital many of the nurses are non union and belong to the Royal College of Nursing
One of them told the Times that they were satisfied with the pay rise they got last summer.
Extract Bracknell Times 23/01/1975

 

New Town Singers group 10 years old

Some time ago I had the pleasure of thanking the New Town Singers for their generosity in raising over £200 for the British Heart Foundation.
Now it is time to bring their score into accord with the present position.
During the past year they have raised £40 for the NSPCC (Bracknell Branch), £50 for the Hart's Leap (Sandhurst) Children's Home and £20 for the Leukaemia Society and since their foundation they have raised no less than £2,500 for charity.
This year is their 10th anniversary, I am told by their lovely leader Lynne Webb. To celebrate their anniversary, the New Town Singers will try to raise a lot of money, starting with three concerts on May 1, 2 and 3 at Brackenhale School: Half will be handed to the Lions' charity towards the cost of a foetal heart-beat machine (cost about £2,000) and the other half for charities of their own choice.
The machine, which enables the heart-beats of unborn babies to be studied, will be presented to Heatherwood Hospital; incidentally, the Lions themselves raised £450 towards this object recently.
The New Town Singers take nothing from their efforts except the pleasure they gain by giving.
The only charges they make against takings are for printing and hire of halls. This letter is not devoid of self-interest; I am extremely glad to say the Singers will be doing another concert on behalf of the British Heart Foundation later.
Congratulations and sincere thanks again, ladies! - Bill Brown, 60 Wellington Road, Crowthorne.
Extract Bracknell Times 17/04/1975

 

Glowing tribute to Heatherwood Hospital

In view of the adverse criticism recently levelled at the National Health Service, we five ladies would like publicly to express our thanks and appreciation to the staff of Heatherwood Hospital.
Our morale was kept high by the cheerfulness and consideration of the domestic staff, and our physical comfort extremely well cared for by the nursing and medical staff
In addition, perhaps most important of all, any fears we may have had were allayed by careful and informed explanation of our individual cases.
Thank you all for making our stay at Heatherwood so comfortable-Valerie Miles, Kathleen Harden, Joyce Bishop. Janet Peacock, Dorothy Alcock,
Ex-patients, Ward 8. Gynaecological Unit, Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot.
Extract Bracknell Times 22/05/1975

 

Cheeky Romeo's Nights With Nurses

Cheeky romeo shared a home with 90 nurses for more A than a month.
Night after night he slipped through the security net at a nurses' home, found his way to his girl friend's room, and stayed for breakfast.
And his free lodgings came to light only when he was interviewed by police on another matter.
He told police he had been staying at the home and they informed the hospital authorities.
Last night an investigation was under way at Heatherwood Hospital at Ascot, Berks, to discover how his nightly visits remained undetected for so long.

Visitors
Rules at the home allow nurses to entertain in their rooms until 11 p.m. but then all visitors must leave.
"I am at a loss to see how he managed it," said a spokesman for the hospital.
"The nurse concerned has been interviewed but there is no question of her being dismissed."
Extract Daily Record 26/05/1975

 

Boyfriend shared single room

'Shared room' nurse told to quit home
An Ascot nurse who let her boyfriend share her single room in the nurse's home at Heatherwood Hospital has been told to leave the home.
She will not be dismissed, hospital administrator Mr Derek Fairman said today, but she has been told to leave the home "by the end of the month."
It is understood the nurse lives in the area and will be living at home.
Meanwhile, Mr Fairman and other senior hospital officials will be carrying out an investigation to find out just how the man managed to spend nights with the girl for several weeks without being reported.
The case of the "bed and breakfast Romeo" only came to light when police interviewed him on another matter.
There are 90 nurses living in single rooms in the home. Visitors are allowed, said Mr Fairman, but the rule is that they must leave by 11pm.
"We lock all doors, but all the nurses have keys. I will be interviewing them all to find out how this came about and why it was not reported." he said.
"We will be looking at security arrangements, but short of running the place like a prison there is not a great deal we can do.
We have to put nurses on trust."
Extract Evening Post 27/05/1975

 

Night of Love at Ascot Nurses Hostel

A nurse at Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot has been asked to quit the nurses' home at the hospital by the end of this week because her boyfriend has been spending the night in her room.
A full investigation has now been launched by the Heatherwood administration to find out how the man could have spent so much time in the nurse's room without being detected.
Security at the hospital is to be examined.
The matter came to light a few weeks ago when the boyfriend was interviewed by the police on another matter.
They subsequently learned that he had been sleeping in the nurses' home and the hospital was notified.
Visitors are allowed in the home, but are supposed to be out of the building by 11pm.
"We can't obviously run the home like a prison with people running around with bunches of keys." said Heatherwood administrator Mr Derek Fairman.
"The nurses are put on their trust." Mr Fairman would not reveal the nurse's name, but confirmed that she had been told to leave the home "by the end of the month." She had not been dismissed from nursing duties.
Extract Bracknell Times 29/05/1975

 

Lions in sponsored pub crawl

Bracknell. Lions Club is organising a sponsored pub crawl on Tuesday evening. starting at 7pm from Bracknell Rugby Club.
Each walker will drink a half- pint of bitter at each of 10 public houses enroute, plus halves at the at rugby Club at the start and finish.
Each entrant will cover about five miles on foot during the pub crawl. The proceeds will go towards the club's major project for this year, the provision of a Foetal Monitoring Machine for Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot.
Fair play
Lion members will act as marshals at each stopping place, to ensure fair play and the smooth running of the event.
A prize will be given to the highest sponsored entrant, and supper will be served at the end of the evening.
There is still room for more entrants, and forms are obtainable from Mr Dennis Judd.
Extract Bracknell Times 05/06/1975

 

Sponsored pub crawl will help hospital

Ever gone on a "cawl!" round ten pubs in the. cause of getting slightly drunk? If you have-now's your chance, to do it in the cause of something more worthwhile a special foetal monitoring machine for Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital.
The Bracknell Lions Club is appealing for volunteers to go on its sponsored pub crawl on Tuesday which will start and finish at Bracknell Rugby Club.
Each participant will drink half a pint of bitter at the ten pubs enroute, plus two more halves at the club at the start and finish. Apart from a drinking capacity, entrants will also need good shoes for the crawl involves a five-mile walk.
But there's an incentive apart from the beer in the shape of a prize for the highest sponsored entrant managing to stay the course.
The crawl will start at 7pm and Lion members will act as marshals at each stopping place. The club will also serve supper for the entrants at the end of the evening.
Extract Evening Post 07/06/1975

 

Friends' £2,000

Heatherwood Hospital League of Friends raised £2.000 in the last year towards the cost of a new hospital radio system, members heard at the League's annual general meeting last Thursday. They are still looking for new members to help fund-raising efforts.
Extract Bracknell Times 03/07/1975

 

Pay Up Or Wait is Patients Plight

by Maggie Lett
Patients in the Bracknell area waiting to see consultants at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, are being forced into paying fees for private treatment to avoid a six-month wait.
Consultants are still observing their work to contract which started in January when Secretary of State for Health Mrs Barbara Castle reviewed the terms of their contracts with the National Health Service.
At a meeting of the Community Health Council in Bracknell on Tuesday members decided to try to mobilise forces throughout the region to seek an inter view with Mrs Castle and some action to get the consultants back to normal working.
They described the situation By at Heatherwood and other hospitals in the area as both alarming "deteriorating"
People awaiting consultation about surgery at Heatherwood face a wait of anything between three and six months.
Children are having to wait up to five months to see orthopaedic specialists. And women wanting to see the gynaecologist are being seen only if their general practitioner states their case as urgent.
The waiting period is avoided only by seeking private consultation, or by doctors declaring them all as emergencies.
"Consultants are holding people to ransom," said health council member Mr C. N Rayner. Things are grim for many of the patients and there seems to be no end in site Then even when the patients have seen the consultants there is a long wait for a hospital bed."
Another member of the council, which acts as a way for people throughout Berkshire region on matters related to the consultants were forcing people who could not afford private fees into having to pay them.
It's like holding a gun at the patient's head and saying give us your money or else," said Mrs A. Timperley.
A management spokesman for Heathwood Hospital agreed that there was a considerable back log of patients waiting to see consultants, but said that he could see no end in sight.
"Since January there has been a steady and inevitable increase in the time that non- urgent cases have to wait, to see specialists," he said," and the waiting period has got longer and longer. The dispute is with the Government and it affects all hospitals."
The Bracknell meeting ended with a resolution to form a deputation to see Mrs Castle as soon as possible. The health council members also want to press the growing need for more recruitment of students into the field of medicine and health practise, so that consultants' work loads are not too heavy and reliant upon too few.
Extract Bracknell Times 03/07/1975

 

Patients Held to Ransom by Consultants

"Things are grim for many people in the area and for a lot of patients there seems to be no end in sight.
"The consultants are holding people to ransom, and it is disgusting." Mrs A. Timperley from Slough said the consultants' action was "like holding a gun at the patient's head and saying: Give us your money or else'."
Mr Ray Gosney, general administrator for the East Berks Health District said there had been a steady increase in the lists since the action began in January.
Worse
  "Things are getting very much worse and the situation has deteriorated quite markedly," he said. At both the Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, and the Maidenhead Hospital, patients can wait up to 24 weeks for surgery. And at Heatherwood, gynaecologists are dealing with only emergency cases.
The council, which acts as a patients' "watchdog." was told that a waiting list of 2,000 patients in the South East has now doubled.
The council is to try to organise a deputation to see Social Services Minister Mrs Barbara Castle in an attempt to get the consultants to return to normal working. They have also agreed to lobby MPs
Extract Evening Post 03/07/1975

 

Out-Patients Extension at Ascot

Some out-patients are forced to stand while waiting for treatment at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot because there is not enough room in the present waiting area
Now the hospital plan to extend their waiting area facilities to provide enough seats for out-patients.
It will be a flat-roofed extension to match the existing building.
A hospital spokesman said: "At the moment there is not enough room and we tend to get people standing, which is not really a good thing."
The planning application goes before Windsor and Maidenhead council next week.
Extract Bracknell Times 17/07/1975

 

Gift for Hospital

A gift of sun blinds and garden furniture has been made to Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, by the Sunninghill WRVS out of profits from the hospital canteen.
A total profit of £1,700 was raised and the sun blinds have already been fitted to a number of wards.
The garden furniture is for use by the maternity unit.
Extract Bracknell Times 14/08/1975

 

Tea and buns help patients at Heatherwood

Cups of tea and buns sold at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot. outpatients' canteen, have helped the WRVS voluntary workers to provide two sun blinds for wards and a set of garden furniture for the maternity section.
Extract Bracknell Times 04/09/1975

 

Ascot's Miss Baines dies

Well-known Ascot resident, Miss Adele Mowbray Baines, died on Friday, aged 87. For the last 30 years, since her retirement, she has lived at Parkside, Fernbank Road, Ascot, with a former Ascot school mistress.
Miss Baines, had led an adventurous life before settling down in Ascot, She was a governess with a French family in Paris during the war, and fled the city when the Germans arrived.
She left with the two boys who were her charges, and took the last boat to leave Boulogne for England. Her charges, and their family, have never forgotten her kindness and courage, and remained in close contact with her.
Miss Baines was a hard worker for the League of Friends of Heatherwood Hospital, and was a personality in the Ascot area.
Her funeral takes place today, Thursday at St Peter's church. Cranbourne.
Extract Bracknell Times 11/09/1975

 

League of Friends Heatherwood Hospital

Grand Fete September 20, 1975 at 2pm
Extract Bracknell Times 18/09/1975

 

A double Boost For Heatherwood

Feeling the need to integrate the community in Ascot, two leading local charities joined forces on Saturday in a unique fund raising exercise.
The League of Friends of Heatherwood Hospital held their fete in the hospital grounds and raised £350 to finish the job of installing the radio system at the hospital and providing for a DJ network to keep the patients in touch.
And half a mile away at Ascot Racecourse Ascot Round Table were doing their bit by staging their own Grand Prix of go-karts entered by other Round Tables from a wide area, including Alton, Hampshire and Harrow, North London.
League of Friends chairman Mr Ron Mason explained: "We are trying to integrate the community more. There is lack of awareness of what we are trying to do for the hospital, and this kind of thing helps bring people in."
The League of Friends need £10,000 to achieve their dream of a radio link-up with other hospitals in the area, such as Maidenhead.
Mini-buses ran a shuttle service between the two events. The Round Table's Ascot Grand Prix was staged at No. 10 Car Park on the Racecourse, and was the first of what the organisers hope will become an annual event.
Hilarious
  Pedal go-karts of all peculiar shapes and sizes were hurtling round the track at as near break neck speed as some could muster. The results were often hilarious. Ascot Round Table press officer David Morris said breathlessly after completing two laps: "It's a killer."
Each Round Table were sponsored according to the number of laps their kart completed, and the money raised would go to their own charity. But all money raised by Ascot Round Table from the Grand Prix will go to Heatherwood.
The Round Tables, 18 of them, aimed to complete a 100 laps round the track, undoubtedly spurred on by the promise that each go-kart driver would receive a free pint of beer. Dodgy parts of the course such as "Table Corner" and "Mewes Hairpin," were treated with great respect by the drivers. After the races, competitors relaxed in the evening to music, food and dancing.
Winners
  Bracknell Round Table won the Best Kart Cup, while Bagshot completed 48 miles in the fastest time of the day, three and three quarter hours.
Egham were close runners up, finishing only 50 yards behind. they won the Team Challenge Cup as consolation. The Inter-Area Challenge Rose Bowl was won by Area 27 (Middlesex).
Ascot Round Table's own team completed a creditable 90 laps of the course.
Opener
  Mrs Jane Beaumont, wife of Captain Beaumont, the clerk of Ascot Racecourse, opened the League of Friends Fete at Heatherwood Hospital and afterwards toured the hospital wards chatting to patients.
Among a host of stalls and sideshows were the tombola, books, darts and a bottle stall.
For the children there were rides on a model train and ponies. Teas, cakes and other refreshments were provided by Ascot Ladies Circle on their own stall.
And Ascot Heath Golf Club gave prospective golfers a chance to check on their putting skills at a special Putting Alley.
Extract Bracknell Times 25/09/1975

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by four photos.
The first showed Enjoying the sun at Heatherwood Hospital Fete on Saturday afternoon was this cheerful group.
The second showed the pony rides proved a big attraction well not quite!
The third showed Chris Floyd, six, and furry companion at the Heatherwood Fete on Saturday.
The fourth showed two year old Philip Smith with vegetable basket of the many prizes at the fete.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photos here.

 

Hospital Staff May Buy Heart Machine

Staff at Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot may have to run their own fund raising activities to buy a heart resuscitation machine for the casualty department because not enough money is forthcoming from the hospital authorities to pay for the machine.
At the same time all staff vacancies that arise at Heatherwood are being reviewed. Hospital administrator M Derek Farirman said that there were no redundancies planned and no jobs to go. "We have just been told that from September 19 the establishment must be frozen."
Mr Fairman said that there were also economies being made all round, but that the did not know if the heart machine was in this category.
In the Area Health Authorities East Berkshire offices in Windsor, Mr R. L Gosney said that in all applications for new or replacement surgical equipment, the need had to be balanced against the sums available.
"There is restraint at the moment," he said, but was unable to say whether or not the Heatherwood heart machine had been hit by these economic restraints.
Extract Bracknell Times 02/10/1975

 

Doctors To Strike At Heatherwood

By Greg Freeman
Junior doctors at Heatherwood Hospital decided this week to go on strike from next Monday regardless of the outcome of a meeting of other hospital doctors in the area.
This was decided at a meeting of the 23 doctors employed at Heatherwood when they agreed to attend only emergencies from Monday until further notice.
Later other doctors in hospitals throughout Berkshire decided on the same course. So far, doctors from Heatherwood seem to be the most militant among those from the Windsor Group. Routine out-patients will suffer the worst from the doctors' action.
This week Heatherwood out-patients were being told by letter that their appointments would be postponed indefinitely while the doctors' industrial action continued.
Postponed
  Hospital administrator Mr Derek Fairman said: "I don't want the general public to get the impression that out-patient appointments are being cancelled. They are just being postponed. It would be true to say, for an indefinite period." He added that the doctors' action would place an additional burden on the hospital administrative services.
All routine operations (for instance, hysterectomies, hernia repairs and varicose veins) are cancelled and non-emergency X-rays may also have to go.
A normal obstetric service will be maintained, but with fewer doctors on call at times.
Casualties
  The doctors hope to maintain a 24 hour casualty service, but say there will inevitably be delays in treating minor cases such as cut fingers.
Heatherwood will be left with a staff of around 20 consultants to do the junior doctors' work.
This week the doctors were canvassing other staff at Heatherwood, including porters, cleaners, ambulancemen and nurses, at lunchtime meetings to explain why they are taking this action.
An elected spokesman for doctors at Heatherwood said: "This is not something we are doing light heartedly. It is totally alien to our whole attitude towards medicine and our patients."
He added: "But surprisingly the patients in the wards are behind us. They're being very tolerant."
The spokesman said although no lives would be lost by the doctors' industrial action, many people would be inconvenienced.
"Waiting lists for operations will just get longer and longer. Already it's almost a year to wait for routine surgery, and it will get longer still."
The doctors are protesting at a new pay code which will mean they receive only 30 per cent of their basic wage for overtime over 44 hours a week. In effect it means that doctors working an average 100 hours a week will suffer a real loss of income by the new system.
The Heatherwood doctors' spokesman said: "Half of the doctors at Heatherwood work over 100 hours a week, and no one works less than 80. I myself stand to lose a few hundred pounds a year in salary if the new contract comes in.
"We all want to look after our patients, but the Government are exploiting our devotion to duty as long as overtime is so cheaply priced," he said. The doctors at Heatherwood. as in other parts of the country. feel that the Government is allowing the Health Service to slide towards disaster.
Warning
  "There is a deterioration of standards everywhere. Patients are not getting a fair deal in the vast majority of hospitals in this country.
"We can see a day coming when waiting lists will be several years long, and people are going to die before their operation," the spokesman warned. The doctors are already upset about the way they feel the Health Service is being run down, the phasing out of pay beds (there are four at Heatherwood) which they say will lose the Health Service an estimated £40 million per annua and the recent administrative re-shuffles which they say "look as though they will be a dismal failure."
The doctors action is on their own initiative, while they wait for the results of a British Medical Association referendum on the call for strike action, the result of which will not be known for about a month.
So the industrial action by doctors at Heatherwood will continue at least until then.
Extract Bracknell Times 23/10/1975

 

Doctors Ban Begins To Bite

by Ray Bryant
Junior doctors claimed almost total support from their members today as they began their emergency only treatment in the Thames Valley.
Only five junior staff at the Royal Berkshire Hospital were known to be working normally. said a doctors' spokesman. In the region, from Berkshire and Oxfordshire to Northamptonshire, 115 hospitals were likely to be affected by the doctors action.
All this week consultants will bear the burden of routine ward work, as junior staff work a 40-hour week and deal with emergency cases only. Out-patients' clinics and non urgent operations are being cancelled.
The Thames Valley doctors decided on the action at a stormy meeting at Oxford last week, at which calls for strike action were resisted.
They agreed to "reluctantly" accept the Government's new contract, on condition that negotiations on a basic rate over 40 hours are begun immediately, and that junior staff are paid their full rate for all work over 80 hours in a week
Rates
  Further action would follow, the doctors warned, if Social Services Secretary Mrs Barbara Castle would not meet these demands.
In effect, the new contract reduces the hours of junior doctors from 80 to 40 a week, but in doing so considerably cuts the earnings of many doe tors because overtime rates are lower.
All was quiet at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, today. The only signs of the junior doctors's industrial action were the printed notices stuck to the out patients waiting room windows which explained the reasons for their action, and the much quieter than usual waiting room.
Extract Evening Post 27/10/1975

 

Bullbrook Disco Raises £25

Members of Bullbrook Youth Club held a successful disco at their local community centre on Friday, to raise money for the children's ward at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital.
They raised £25, which was presented at the youth club's weekly meeting last night.
Extract Bracknell Times 06/11/1975

 

Doctors: Hopes rest on new meeting

Hopes of averting the junior hospital doctors' work-to-rule rest on a meeting tomorrow between them and Social Services Secretary Mrs Barbara Castle
The British Medical Association and possibly employment secretary Mr Michael Foot will also be there The action is threatened from next week.
Meanwhile in Berkshire. Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital's 23 junior doctors decided last night to attend emergency patients only from December 1 A Junior Hospital Doctors Association member at the hospital, which covers a large area including Bracknell, said after their meeting "We will be attending emergency and urgent cases only both in casualty and out patients We will be doing daily ward rounds to look after those cases One of us will be vetting all the doctors' notes which come with outpatients seeking appointments to ensure urgent cases are not passed over Industrial action is not something we undertake lightly
West Berkshire and Oxfordshire doctors are also likely to treat emergencies only, their representative said yesterday. They will be meeting this week to decide their policy Hopes of averting the action rest on an increase in the £12 million offered by the Government in "redistribution" of overtime payments
Extract Bracknell Times 19/11/1975

 

Hospital aims for target

The climax of the Bracknell Lions Club Campaign to raise cash for a foetal machine for Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital will come on December 4 with a Caribbean evening.
The event in Ed's Barn Coun try Club. in Evendons Lane. Wokingham, is aimed at raising enough cash to reach the club's £1.500 target for the machine.
Extract Evening Post 19/11/1975

 

Lions on last leg

Bracknell Lions Club has almost reached the £1,500 target it set itself to buy a heart machine for Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot.
The final straw, as it were, will come on Thursday, December 4, when the club will hold a Caribbean Evening at Ed's Barn, Wokingham. "This will complete our project for Heatherwood Hospital,"
said member Mr Dave Withers this week. "Then we shall try to raise money for other projects," he added.
Extract Bracknell Times 20/11/1975

 

Hospital Chaos Likely From Doctors' Action

This week's action by junior doctors and consultants is expected to create havoc in hospitals in East Berkshire, including Heatherwood, foregoing large-scale closures of wards and even whole hospitals.
Maidenhead hospital is the first likely one to close as the dispute begins to really bite. But a health district spokesman said this week that Heatherwood's casualty department, which had to take referred cases from Battle hospital in Reading over the weekend, will probably stay open on a 9-5 basis.
At the moment both junior doctors and consultants are working an "emergencies only" service similar to that operated by the junior doctors before they temporarily suspend their industrial action awaiting the outcome of talks in the middle of November.
A meeting of consultants and junior doctors held at King Edward VII hospital, Windsor. on Monday thrashed out a plan to implement a 40-hour week. Their proposals were discussed at a meeting of doctors, consultants and representatives from nursing and hospital administration at Windsor on Wednesday and the effect they will have on local hospitals will be known for the first time. Later today (Thursday)
Dr Alan Dellow, a Heatherwood doctor who is secretary of the East Berkshire District action committee, said this week that whatever proposals they came up with, it would mean widespread closure of wards and transfer of staff between hospitals.
"It will mean fairly extensive ward closures," he said. "Most hospitals in the area will definitely be drastically affected."
Dr Dellow refused to commit himself on whether some hospitals would be forced to close completely, but it is believed Maidenhead hospital's future is in doubt.
Out-patients are suffering more than in the previous dispute, and all routine out- patient appointments have been cancelled, a health district spokesman said this week. He added they were waiting for the outcome of the meeting on Wednesday before deciding what action to take over closure of wards, which could take effect from Monday.
The spokesman said he thought Heatherwood's casualty department would continue to operate on a 9-5 basis and would be unaffected by the eventual ward closures. Local members of the National Union of Public Employees, which includes ambulancemen and hospital ancillary workers, have not yet made an official approach to local doctors over the dispute, although at a national level the union is against the consultants' stand over the pay-beds issue.
East Berkshire doctors hope to meet NUPE after their meeting on Wednesday. A Bracknell ambulance headquarters spokesman said this week that local ambulancemen were operating normally.
The doctors are protesting at Health Minister Mrs Barbara Castle's proposals for pricing overtime, and the consultants have joined their industrial action over their own dismay at the Government's phasing-out of pay beds.
Extract Bracknell Times 04/12/1975

 

Ascot

How Thames Valley hospitals are affected by the doctors' dispute.
Casualties treated at Heatherwood Hospital 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
Extract Evening Post 24/12/1975

Comment:- The above article is a snippet from an information box showing all the hospitals in the Berkshire area and their treatment times.