Heatherwood Hospital 1977

New Year Delight

Bracknell mother Mrs Irene Fryer won't forget this new year in a hurry. For, on New Year's afternoon, she gave birth to a baby girl. Hayley-Marie, who is Mrs Fryer's second daughter, weighed 7lbs 7 on birth.
Mrs Fryer said this week that it had been rather pleasant being in hospital during the seasonable period.
Mrs Fryer and her husband have lived in Ringwood, Bracknell for four years, and she entered Heatherwood on Friday evening.
Mother and baby are said to be doing fine and expect to go home later this week.
Extract Bracknell Times 06/01/1977

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

 

Mum's The Word on Bracknell Hospital

By Paul Starling
Three large sites are being considered for the major new hospital proposed for Bracknell but the authorities refuse to identify them at present Bracknell Development Corporation welcoming the proposal, has offered three sites of 20-25 acres which would meet the requirements laid down by East Berkshire Health District management team.
The team has recommended to the Area Health Authority that a community hospital be set up in Bracknell initially with a large district general hospital being added later.
But the corporation's press officer Miss Mary Bosticco said this week: "I am not at liberty to actually identify these sites at present."
There was a similar message from a spokesman for the East Berkshire Community Health Council, who said: "I am not able to reveal where the possible sites are." A spokesman for the health district said that it had not yet been informed of the location.
Miss Bosticco said: "The possible sites are at present either being put to other use or allocated for other purposes so various problems will have to be ironed out. before a particular site can actually be made available."
It is impossible to speculate accurately where the possible sites could be, for, although there is only limited land now available within the designated new town area, the possibility of the Government deciding on further expansion cannot be ruled out.
Within the present designated area there is a 57-acre undeveloped site between South Hill Park, South Hill Road and the Southern Industrial area of which Bracknell District Council hopes to buy some land for housing.
Another possible site is Farley Hall, the Bracknell Development Corporation headquarters.
When the corporation winds up, this building could provide a suitable spot for the hospital according to the district health management team's report.
Another possible site is the old chest hospital 65-acre Pinewood estate at Crowthorne, which has been known to be under consideration for some time.
But Miss Bosticco refused to be drawn on the locations and said: "The district health management team has made its recommendation to the Area Health Authority to develop a hospital in Bracknell.
"The situation arises, a large site is called for, and, accordingly, the Bracknell Development Corporation, welcoming the proposal to establish hospital services in Bracknell, has proposed three suitable sites," she said.
Discussion, and a decision on the recommendation, is likely at this month's Area Health Authority meeting, though the plan for a hospital must be considered long-term.
Mr Brian Mackness, assistant health district administrator, has warned that no date could be set until plans were finalised, even then they would be at the mercy of the economic situation and public spending restrictions.
The facilities recommended for Bracknell are a hospital with "high technology", requiring highly-trained and specialised staff, and sophisticated equipment.
National Health policy is to concentrate these resources into a limited number of hospitals so that maximum use is made of them.
The emergence of plans for a Bracknell hospital would eventually mean the closure of Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital as a general hospital.
There has been a campaign for some time for Bracknell to have its own facilities because of the difficulty locally of getting to and from Heatherwood.
Major accident and emergency units are provided in district general hospitals with a full range of supporting facilities and this would render Heatherwood obsolete.
This view is not shared by workers at Heatherwood, however, and they are officially opposing the move.
In a recent report the Heatherwood and Windsor branch the General and Municipal Workers' Union urged that, "in the present financial climate the project be scrapped.
The workers feel that there is sufficient land available at Heatherwood to provide a further 500 beds. They say that the cost of buying land at Bracknell would be prohibitive, gas, water and electricity services are already at Heatherwood and that Heatherwood is central to the population and well served by the area's transport services.
The report recommends an extension to the Church Hill House Hospital at Bracknell to take any extra patients.
Extract Bracknell Times 06/01/1977

 

Adam McKinlay's Column Extract

In the past year, I expressed the opinion from time to time that I would like to know more about what was going on at Heatherwood Hospital.
Last week I was granted my wish by landing in a Ward One bed. The sojourn was brief, and painful and gave me a quick insight into the problems besetting Heatherwood with economy cuts in full swing.
It is a bit shattering to be told by a doctor that for reasons of economy the gap between chronic and acute in waiting time terms has now been extended much further.
Careful thought has to be given before expensive exploratory treatment is undertaken. A painful process for the one to be explored.
It was a quick reminder, too, of the 24-hour shifts of young doctors such as registrars who look to be in the advanced stages of night starvation not a pretty sight.
I would bung every politician in the country into hospital (as a patient) once every three months just to keep him in touch with reality.
Thanks for the first instalment Heatherwood. I'll be back.
For those of you curious enough, and the types who enjoy their operations, old Adam numbers among his varied talents the ability to compete with the Woodley Consortium in producing "gravel". And all by myself! Harry Coff can have my "plant" for free.
My particular type takes the form of renal stones. Not very lucrative, however, and certainly bloody painful.
Extract Bracknell Times 13/01/1977

 

Ward Sister Marriage

A ward sister at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot and an RAF officer were married at The Immaculate Conception Church.
Flt/Lieut. Stephen Robson, the son of Mr E. G. Robson, of Belmont Road, Ashley, New Milton and Miss Catherine Mary Tilt, the daughter of Mrs A. Tilt, of Beaulieu Gardens, Blackwater, Camberley, spent their honeymoon in the Isle of Wight.
The service was conducted by Father O'Brien.
The bride was given in marriage by her uncle, Mr J. Walmsley.
Extract Bracknell Times 1401/1977

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

 

Official Backing for East Berks plan to Revive Health Service

A radical scheme aimed at breathing new life into East Berkshire's ailing health service was given official backing yesterday.
After a debate lasting more than three hours. Berkshire Area Health Authority approved plans to tidy up and develop the service
Surgery
The plan drawn up by East Berkshire's district management team. calls for A new major hospital in south east Berkshire, possibly at Bracknell. two maternity centres instead of three, two geriatric assessment centres, one in the Bracknell area and one at Slough's Wexham Park Hospital more beds for East Berkshire's mentally ill and mentally handicapped small, community hospitals in Bracknell, Maidenhead Windsor and Slough improved rehabilitation services
Outlining the scheme. East Berkshire district administrator. Mr David Treloar, told the meeting the plan was designed to reduce the number of hospitals needing advanced equipment The district management team believes that although there will be fewer beds efficiency will be improved
We are trying to maintain five hospitals There are 250 beds set aside for surgery but no more than 160 are ever in said Mr use at one time. said Mr Treloar
The first part of the plan is to release Upton Park Hospital at Slough for geriatric cases The maternity work now carried out at the hospital would be transferred to Wexham Park where a new £1 million maternity unit would be built Before the unit was built.
maternity services would be provided at Heatherwood Hospital. Ascot and the Canadian Red Cross Hospital north of Slough
Heatherwood's maternity unit would continue unless a general hospital was built at Bracknell The health authority stressed that maternity services should be available in a general hospital if possible
Closed
The community hospitals would deal with medical cases that did not need sophisticated equipment The first community hospital would be set up at Maidenhead on the St Marks site Maidenhead general hospital would be closed.
A community hospital would also be built at Bracknell.
In Windsor, the King Edward VII Hospital would eventually become a community hospital as would Upton Park in Slough
The authority also plans to provide 123 beds for the elderly Centres to deal with other geriatrics would be set up in the Bracknell area and at Wexham Park Rehabilitation services would be provided at the community hospitals and in day centres throughout the area
The authority expects to have enough money to start work on the Wexham Park maternity unit by 1980 and more money would be available to improve the geriatric service within two years
The full cost of the scheme has still to be worked out but treasurer Mr David Smith said the rationalisation programme would save the authority about £400.000 a year
Now the proposals will be considered by the local community health council
Extract Evening Post 19/01/1977

 

Bracknell Earmarked For New Hospital

by Sally Rose
The big debate is underway to settle hospital and health plans to suit the population explosion in the Bracknell/Wokingham/Ascot/Crowthorne area.
After months of speculation Berkshire Area Health Authority has announced its hospital rationalisation plans, which mean Bracknell is definitely earmarked for a new district general hospital, or a "community" hospital. However, the dilemma remains: should Heatherwood Hospital at Ascot be developed to a size compatible with population predictions? Or should it be. turned into a community hospital, providing day-care and facilities for the chronically sick and geriatrics, leaving a need for a new major purpose-built general hospital at Bracknell? Area Health Authority members meeting at Wexham Park Hospital, Slough, on Tuesday agreed that this was the "agonising" dilemma on which any debate must be centred.
Earmark
Meanwhile, the health authority agreed to ask Bracknell Development Corporation tr. earmark a site for a community hospital, which would be big enough to take a district general hospital if, or when, needed. This way, members agreed, kept options open on future needs, if the local population rises to predicted levels.
It now seems unlikely that Heatherwood will be closed. The authority recommended that a rationalisation strategy for acute medical and specialist services should centre on Heatherwood and new facilities at Bracknell. The rationalisation programme is looked on by the authority as a long-term cost saving. But as a matter of priority, it is to ask the Oxford Regional Health Authority to press for a massive injection of money from the Government. The present facilities mean that some patients in the Bracknell district now go to Reading hospitals for specialist treatment.
Growth
The bulk of the anticipated growth in the county is in the Reading/Wokingham/Bracknell area, including Crowthorne and Sandhurst, and is expected to total 175,000 by 1968 and over 190,000 by 1991, by which time either a new hospital should be underway, or Heatherwood expanded.
As a short term measure, the area health authority proposed that surgical and medical services should continue to be provided only at Heatherwood, King Edward and Wexham Park hospitals, all of which are now used by residents of this area.
The rationalisation programme also includes the provision of more maternity facilities at Wexham Park, while services of this nature I will continue at Heatherwood. With the elderly consuming more resources and taking up more hospital beds the authority viewed as urgent the provision of geriatric and psycho- geriatric care facilities.
More beds will be provided at Upton Hospital, Slough, as an interim measure. Later they will be provided in the Bracknell area, which at present has none.
This is where the community hospital concept enters the picture. Upton Hospital is already in line for this sort of provision. A community hospital at Bracknell, or a change of use at Heatherwood would provide a similar purpose.
Another area of concern is provision for the mentally ill.
At present patients in this area have to go to St Bernard's Hospital, Southall. The general Hospital for Bracknell would have a special psychiatric unit as a priority, the health authority decided.
Tuesday's lengthy debate on the rationalisation programme showed that not all the authority's members approved of the concept of two district general hospitals, Bracknell and Wexham Park Opposition came from medical and surgical consultant representatives.
Manpower
Evidence of concern on man-power levels for the future came from banner-waving representatives of the National Union of Public Employees.
But there was no picketing or voluble protesting.
At a press conference on Monday Dr Jeremy Cobb, community physician, claimed that the authority could not afford not to go ahead with the rationalisation programme.
He referred to the present costly "scatter" of facilities and said this was the right course, using a "spratt to catch a mackerel".
Sir John Hedge, chairman of the area health authority, said the plan was for the patients. if It did not go through, it would be the people of the district who would be the losers.
Forefront
The district administrator, Mr David Treloar, said there had been criticism of Bracknell, being treated as a poor relation. In fact, it was in the forefront of community care, he claimed, with a health centre at Great Hollands and others to follow at Skimped Hill and Birch Hill.
But this still only represented 10 per cent of 'health care.
He added that Bracknell was well placed as a centre for the district. He hoped that plans would reach fruition and would prove that the town was not a poor relation.
He said that a close look had also to be taken at Wokingham, Crowthorne and Sandhurst in line with the population growth.
"A young community generates health needs," he said, including psychiatric problems which may need priority.
It all added up to monitoring needs and developing accordingly, he said.
Extract Bracknell Times 20/01/1977

 

Farley Hall Site Is Favoured

Farley hall, the rambling headquarters of Bracknell Development Corporation, could become the site for Bracknell's new hospital.
The Hall, and the 20 acres of Farley Moor on which it stands, have been identified as a potential location for the new hospital, which would need a site of 20-25 acres.
It is one of three potential sites put forward by the Development Corporation which were due to be considered at last night's district council's liaison committee.
The other sites, which also stand on the western side of Bracknell, are 25 acres of land as yet unoccupied on the Southern Industrial Estate, and Farley Copse Farm. Each of the sites is conveniently located as far as Wokingham is concerned.
A specific advantage of the Farley Hall site would be the established bus route between Bracknell and Wokingham.
The final decision on siting the hospital will be made by Berkshire Area Health Authority.
In a report placed before the district liaison committee last night the Corporation said. "The first master plan for Bracknell New Town proposed Farley Hall and Farley Moor, with a joint area of approximately 20 acres, as a site for a hospital.
Though outside, but adjoining the designated New Town area, Farley Hall and Farley Moor are in the ownership of the Development Corporation.
The site is within the expansion area proposed for expansion of the New Town."
The second site of about 25 acres on the Southern Industrial Estate could be considered," says the report, "if alternative sites were found for the purposes for which it has been reserved."
The other site proposed in the report, Farley Copse Farm, is not owned by the development corporation and, as the report says, "Use of this site would of course be subject to the owner's willingness to sell."
The Corporation has made it quite clear that it would be glad to help the area authority settle a suitable site for the hospital within Bracknell New Town which would then become a focal point for hospital services throughout the district.
Extract Bracknell Times 19/01/1977

 

My Word

by Sally Rose
Three cheers! At last it has been spelled out-super duper hospital facilities for Bracknell.
If we are taken ill or have an accident, no more will we be dragged by ambulance to some far flung hospital up to 20 miles away.
The medical and surgical world has suddenly become our oyster. Who am I trying to kid?
It has taken Berkshire Area Health Authority two years to announce that the eastern end of its county has gross deficiencies in its provision of hospital facilities to care for us from birth to death.
Does it think it is telling us something we have not known for a long, long time. Find me another rapid growth area that has provision as lousy as ours.
I cite two New Town areas in Hertfordshire only a matter of miles from each other. Number one: Stevenage. Good hospital provision at Hitchin just down the road. Yet Stevenage has a new district general hospital.
Number two: Welwyn Garden City/Hatfield. Badly served until turned into a New Town sprawl. Again a beautiful new hospital. The concept of rationalising hospital services has existed for years.
The proposal for district general hospitals with no more building of specialist units, e.g. maternity, was allegedly rubber stamped a lot later.
It came in a special report of a committee of the Central Health Services in 1969. This is 1977. Only now are we thinking of a hospital that might not be completed for years.
What is worse, the 1969 Bonham Carter Report, we now learn was never accepted by the Department of Health.
What an indictment on our society!
Last week I listened to Berkshire health officials spell out the shortcomings in this district.
An acute shortage of maternity beds.
NO beds at all for the mentally confused elderly the current label for this is psychogeriatric. What a terrible word.
NO day hospital facilities for the elderly and a two-year waiting list for long term stay old people.
NO facilities for the mentally ill. NO care available for the young chronic sick and physically disabled.
It seems to me that it is the understatement of the year when this list was summed up as representing "gross deficiencies" in East Berks.
What bothers me most is are these gross deficiencies going to, be rectified?
The area health authority now says it has a big dilemma in deciding whether to build a new district general hospital at Bracknell to also serve Wokingham, Sandhurst and Ascot, or to expand existing Heatherwood Hospital at Ascot for the same purpose. If this is the ultimate decision, it talks of a community hospital for Bracknell. On the other hand, if there is a new major complex at Bracknell, Heatherwood becomes the community hospital.
But that is not all.
To confuse matters still further, Bracknell could have a community hospital, to be Later expanded to a district general.
The health authority talks about all this as the "big debate" and has meanwhile achieved nothing more than getting Bracknell Development Corporation to earmark a suitable site for whatever we eventually get. I don't know what you think, but my feeling is that as usual this is another case of the establishment getting bogged down in expensive round table talk. What I want to see is some ACTION!
The area authority now plans to take its variety of jigsaw puzzles with only half the pieces proposals to the Oxford Regional Health Authority, in the hope that it will urge the Department of Health and Social Security to hand us enough money on a plate to get on with the rationalisation programme.
Population growth figures have been quoted. We all know that statistics and estimations can be made to prove anything. We all know what a gigantic place we were told Bracknell would be.
Yet suddenly the GLC decided that it wanted to stem the massive out flow of its populace to the New Towns.
The latest snippet to be announced is that nationally the death rate is exceeding the birth rate.
I want us to have this general hospital at Bracknell.
I want us to have decent facilities for residential and day care for the chronic sick and the old.
I want us to have the cream of the medical, surgical and nursing world in our midst.
So does our Community Health Council the democratic mouthpiece of the people in this area.
Mr David Ennals, Secretary of State for Social Services, stated recently that in spite of economic difficulties, the government had honoured its pledge to protect the elderly, the sick and the poor.
He also said that the distribution of resources to the NHS must be related to measures of health care and need.
I hope Mr Ennals will put his money where his mouth is. "A penny saved takes a long time to make much cents!"
Extract Bracknell Times 27/01/1977

 

The Last Of The Pantos

In spite of the fact that most pantomimes have been packed away until next Christmas and the spring comedies are being prepared. Heatherwood Hospital at Ascot presented Dick Whittington last week.
This was the first panto venture for the staff of Heatherwood Hospital who have produced excellent comedy shows before now.
There was a huge cast of 52 and the backstage workers deserve a mention as much as the on-stage folk.
Heading the cast was Jackie Coombs as Dick Whittington with a delightful cat Tommy played by Margaret Clark. Patricia Moratorio played the part of the Fairy Queen very well and among the others who deserve a mention are King Neptune played by Alan Dellow and Britannia played by Eileen Garwood.
There were also many people taking part for the first time, both in the footlights and back stage.
On the boards for the first time and doing very well were Sally Stannard as Alice Fitzwarren and many of the chorus, sea nymphs and wood nymphs dancing beautifully if a little shakily in some places. The smaller parts were well played which makes a pleasant change from some pantos where the small parts are taken by the "also ran" people.
Kenneth Welsh. Mary McLeod, Trudy Hilditch, Margaret Smith and Kathy Watts deserve mentions as do the Master of the Harem, Tim Morgan and the Mistress. Cherry Graham-Scott.
Solo dancers Helen Till and harem girl Barbara Abbott both did well. The chorus line is very important to a production like Dick Whittington and they all worked very hard to back up the main scenes.
The scenery was designed by Terry Earthy, from East Berkshire Operatic Society and painted by David Penn and Jill Bonner, for both of them it was a first-time effort.
The scenery was built by Taylor Love, Geoff Singer and Rae Ward, again all first timers when it came to making scenery.
There were eight different scenes and the crew did very well in making them.
Stage staff were Malcolm Warren, Frank, Joe and Tony Debens and some local Scouts. Properties were in the capable hands of Shirley Tucker and costumes, elaborate and beautiful, were made by Sue Ashby, Babs Debens, Elizabeth Downs, Shirley. Tucker and Eileen Till.
The whole show was a good one, combining humour and variety with songs, dancing and a good plot. This group of performers should get, together more often and see what they can do in the more serious vein.
The words and lyrics were supplied by Ted Sherlock and Bill Mitchell, the East Berkshire Operatic Society musical director, did the musical honours for the panto, aided by Betty Stannard on piano and Francis Barker on percussion.
Producer was Nancy Lewis.
Extract Bracknell Times 03/02/1977

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.The photo showed Some of the cast from Heatherwood Hospital's production of Dick Whittington which played to full houses all last week.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photos here.

 

Midwife Censured Over Drug Forgery

By Evening Post reporter
An Ascot midwife who altered a prescription for sleeping tablets shortly before she was due to do a period of night duty at a hospital was censured by the disciplinary committee of the Central Midwives Board in London yesterday.
They found that the allegation of misconduct had been proved against Margaret Stranaghan. 41, of Tamarisk House. Heatherwood Hospital
Miss Stranaghan admitted appearing before Reading magistrates on December 13 when she pleaded guilty to forging a National Health prescription issued by Dr Sadler by altering the amount from 30 to 80 valium tablets She was given a conditional discharge for six months.
Mr James Watt, for the committee, said that just before Miss Stranaghan was due to go on a period of night duty she visited Dr Sadler, in Cambridge, to get a supply of valium He gave her a prescription for 30 tablets but three days later she took the prescription to a Reading chemist after altering it from 30 to 80
The chemist was not happy with the alteration and called the police who later questioned Miss Stranaghan and charged her with the two offences.
The committee received a report from her local supervising authority stating she had worked well and without criticism for the last seven years.
Extract Evening Post 04/03/1977

 

Health council's Hospital Plan

East Berkshire Community Health Council wants to see a decision made on the future of Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital before 1978.
The council is "firmly committed" to the setting up of a district general hospital in the Bracknell area, it revealed this week. If Heatherwood is ruled out as a district hospital, the council says, then a more detailed examination of the possibility of using it as a community hospital should be made.
For the moment, the Berkshire Area Health Authority wants to see gynaecological services at Heatherwood.
These outlines come as part of the "sorting out" of East Berkshire's hospital system.
The authority has agreed in principle to a £20,000 to Bracknell's Church Hill House Hospital's League of Friends to build a new dining room for two wards.
The League of Friends offered to pay £5,000 towards the cost and to repay the loan. The dining room will cost about £2,000 a year to run.
Extract Bracknell Times 17/03/1977

 

Consultants Desperate Bid Rejected

By Evening Post reporter
A desperate bid by four leading doctors to stop long-term plans for obstetrics in the Bracknell, Maidenhead and Slough area has been firmly rejected. And this means the Area Health Authority has "loused up the system" for the next 50 years, claims one of the consultants. In an unprecedented move the four consultants paid for a half-page advertisement in a local paper to put their case on obstetrics,the branch of medicine involving midwifery.
It read: "The Area Health Authority has said in the long-term, obstetrics for the area will be at two units, Wexham Park Hospital and Heatherwood Hospital. "We, the consultant obstetricians and gynaecologists for the group, are unanimous in opposing this disastrous decision" Their answer is a large purpose-built unit at Windsor The advertisement adds "The Area Health Authority. for reasons solely of expediency, has totally disregarded this opinion and we wish to record our protest. This public announcement seems now the only possible means of doing So.
It was signed by Mr John Hughes. Mr Nick Trickey, Mr Tim Anderson and Mr Stan Simmons who between them serve hospitals in Ascot. Taplow. Windsor. Wexham and Slough.
But the AHA remains steadfast in its decision
"We will not be reconsidering." said its chairman. Sir John Hedges "This decision was taken after the fullest possible consultation with all concerned and has the support of the Community Health Council which represents the view of the public
Four
This advertisement is only the view of four doctors. There are others who agree with our decision"
Mr Hughes, one of the consultants, said the decision had left them demoralised. "If they want to make a mess then they can make it." he said "We cannot see patients, operate and run the Health Service at the same time "We are just fed up with the way administration is taking no notice We are totally demoralised We were so desperate we paid money from our own pockets to make our feelings known.
"The AHA is fouling the system up and the general public should be aware of it. If the authority refuses to think again, they will louse the system up for the next 50 years because they will not be spending money out again in a hurry The consultants believe their plan for a large central unit in the grounds of King Edward VII Hospital at Windsor would save money
Developed
There would be no duplication of expensive equipment or manpower and they claim such a unit led by four young consultants, could be developed into the best in the country In addition they claim it would be the only way to attract the best staff At the moment 4.500 babies are born in the district each year and the birth-rate is dropping Split between two units, that number will not be sufficient for the units to be recognised by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Midwives say the consultants For each unit must have a minimum of 4.000 babies born a year.
The consultants chose Windsor for their alternative scheme because it is central and the hospital has no difficulty attracting staff Wexham they believe, is unsuitable because it is out of the way and has no room for combining gynaecology with obstetrics.
The long term plans for Heatherwood are as yet unsure
But Sir John said although there may be space in the grounds at Windsor to build a new unit, the money was just not available and there was no room to extend existing facilities within the hospital
Extract Evening Post 30/03/1977

 

Medal Marks Lifelong Service 

Kitty Furlong was smiling but confused. It had been quite an overwhelming day for her.
After 56 years working in the kitchens at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital she was retiring. And to cap it all she was also being officially presented with the British Empire Medal
Mr Tony Atkinson, hospital catering manager, said the award was in recognition of her long, faithful service to the hospital.
Her work here was not just a job, it was her life.
Her main concern was that the patients and staff should be well fed," he said.
Miss Furlong was presented with her medal by the Vice-Lieutenant of Berkshire, Colonel Gordon Palmer, at a retirement party in the hospital.
On behalf of the catering staff Mr Atkinson presented a display cabinet as her retirement present and the hospital's administrator, Mr Derek Fairman, gave Miss Furlong a long service certificate from the Berkshire Area Health Authority.
Now 70, Miss Furlong came to work at the hospital when it was a convalescent home and orthopaedic hospital for London children.
"We lived in London and my mother first heard of this place when my brother and sister were here convalescing.
She brought me down here for a job when I was 14." recalled Miss Furlong.
She started at the kitchens and rose to be kitchen superintendent of today's large hospital. With 600 staff and nearly 300 patients to feed it has been a responsible job.
For the past seven years Miss Furlong has lived in Park Drive. Sunningdale, and intends to spend the first part of her retirement there having a rest."
Extract Evening Post 04/04/1977

 

Heatherwood Staff to Take Action

Workers at Ascot's Heatherwood hospital could take industrial action in a bid to get a scheme to rationalise health services in Berkshire scrapped.
Union chiefs claim that the rationalisation plan, drawn up by Berkshire Area Health Authority, will mean hardship for their members.
The plan calls for the eventual closure of Upton hospital in Slough with the immediate phasing out of maternity and gynaecology units under this scheme at last 50 nurses and midwives would be transferred to Heatherwood.
And now union officials, who claim they were not fully consulted on some aspects of the scheme, are prepared to take any form of action short of any all out strike in an effort to have the plan abandoned.
Representatives of all the big unions will be meeting on Friday to vote on a move for industrial action at all six hospitals in the area.
The hospitals involved area, Heatherwood, St Marks Maidenhead, Old Windsor hospital. King Edward VII Windsor and Upton and Wexham Park, both in Slough.
Union leaders had threatened to refuse the admission of the 50 nurses and midwives to Heatherwood but now they are planning to take up the fight on a much broader front.
District representative for the National Union of Public Employees. Mr Tony Onyewu. said this week that all the hospital unions would be involved in talks on Friday at King Edward VII hospital.
"All the trade unions have voted to support this struggle." he said. "Every trade union responded to the discussions on the scheme, but the management seems to have ignored our views.
The meeting on Friday will be to draw up a plan for general assault on the re- organisation proposals.
We will take action through every constitutional means besides strike action."
Secretary of the Berkshire Joint Trade Union Committee for Health. Mr David Jones: said this week that if patients were refused admission many of them might have to be taken. to north London for treatment.
He explained that it would be a big step for health unions to ban admissions. "It is always difficult because it the patients who suffer said.
Extract Bracknell Times 21/04/1977

 

Heatherwood To Take In More Mums

Hundreds more local mothers will be having their children at Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot following the recent reopening of a maternity ward there.
The decision to once again make Heatherwood a major childbirth centre comes as part of Berkshire Area Health Authority's move to cut back spending by about £81,000. Slough's Upton Hospital is eventually to be phased out as a maternity unit and the services and staff are being redistributed among the other major hospitals in East Berkshire.
Beds for maternity use are to be provided at Canadian Red Cross Memorial and King Edward VII hospitals as well as Heatherwood.
Arrangements for the transfer of staff to the hospitals are under discussion between the health authority and union representatives who fear that the moves could mean further redundancies.
The scheme will mean that there will be less obstetric beds overall in the district and the shorter length of patients' stays and the increased use of beds will give rise to additional expenditure in the short run at each unit.
But savings will be made by the loss of one registrar and by the running down of Upton Park, and these should amount to about £81,000.
The transfer of obstetric and gynaecological services is planned to take place on July 31.
Heatherwood Hospital's importance in East Berkshire is increasing as the health service attempts to stem its massive overspending by reorganising its services.
A team of area health authority officers is investigating the need for day facilities for the mentally ill in the southern part of the East District.
The team favours Heatherwood as the place to have these facilities, but it thinks new buildings may have to be put up specially for the purpose and it is trying to get an estimate of the eventual costs.
Extract Bracknell Times 28/04/1977

 

Your Health Service

You are invited to put questions or make comments to the
EAST BERKSHIRE COMMUNITY HEALTH COUNCIL
at its next meeting on Tuesday, May 3, 1977 at 2.30pm
in the Recreation Hall, Heatherwood Hospital From 3pm
the CHC will meet Public observers welcome
Juliet M. Mattinson (Miss) East Berks CHC Secretary 30 Windsor Road, Slough Tel. 20357
Extract Bracknell Times 28/04/1977

 

Sunninghill Fears Over Medical Centre

Fears that the personal relationship between Sunninghill and Sunningdale residents and their family doctor will be destroyed if plans for a medical centre are allowed were voiced.
Sunninghill Parish Council's plans committee was considering an application for a medical centre to be built on Green Belt land at the Sunninghill village end of Rise Road. The land belongs to the Motor and Cycle Trades Benevolent Fund's Lynwood Estate.
But the medical centre would in no way be connected with the Fund's Lynwood Nursing Home.
If the plans were approved the Fund would sell the land and all the general practitioners in the Sunningdale Sunninghill area would combine into one large practice.
Building a large medical centre would be "ridiculous when Ascot's large general Heatherwood Hospital was so near, parish councillor David Dunn said.
"Heatherwood deserves the back-up some of us feel it is not getting," he said.
One of the facilities the proposed medical centre would provide was consultants visiting patients at the centre, rather than the patients having to travel to Heatherwood Hospital, the committee was told. Some councillors called this "rubbish," because building the medical centre almost in Sunninghill Village would mean that most Sunningdale residents would have to travel a very long way just to see their family doctor.
They would prefer their family doctor to remain accessible and travel to Heatherwood Hospital on the rare occasions they may have to see a consultant.
At the moment the Sunningdale doctor's practice is in the centre of Sunningdale. The councillors did not like the proposed plans to use the centre for teaching trainee doctors, nurses and medical students.
Mr Garsden Fowler, representing the Society for the Protection of Ascot and Environs, said that they were opposed to any building on the site, because it was Green Belt They were also opposed to a large number of doctors operating from one centre.
The parish council is asking Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council to turn down the application for a medical centre.
Extract Evening Post 25/05/1977

 

Hospital Staff Shortage Warning

Health chiefs have been warned they could have a serious problem in getting enough staff for the proposed Bracknell Hospital. District Councillor, Mrs Dorothy Lees, said there is already a "tremendous" problem in getting enough medical staff in the area.
The reason, she said, is because it is far too close to both the London teaching hospital and Reading's Royal Berkshire Hospital.
She added that both Heatherwood Hospital at Ascot and Old Windsor's King Edward VII Hospital are suffering from staff shortages for the same reason.
Her warning came as the district council's development committee discussed the central and east Berkshire structure plan the county council's blue-print for future planning in the area.
Wider
At the moment, Berkshire health chiefs are proposing that Bracknell should get either a community hospital or a district general hospital to serve a wider area. Both types of hospital could also be provided at the same time but there are doubts over when the scheme could go ahead.
The hospital proposals are not included in the structure plan as firm county council proposals, but are mentioned because the planners consulted health chiefs about their own proposals for the area.
The committee also heard from Mr Garry Capner the county council's principal planning officer in charge of the structure plan, that neighbouring councils could buy land in the new town for council housing.
They were told it had been done elsewhere in the county, with Reading buying land within the Newbury district for homes.
Council chairman, Mrs Dorothy Benwell, said she was worried at the suggestion.But she was told by another county planner at the meeting that the idea is seen as a convenient way of transferring housing pressure from East Berkshire to the central area of the county.
He added that the county is not asking Environment Secretary Peter Shore to agree to the scheme. "It is just an avenue for discussion between housing authorities." he said.
But Labour Councillor Cyril Moyland warned: "This area may well become the area where the majority of public housing is taking place and I would make other areas of Berkshire more preferable for private housing."
Extract Evening Post 27/06/1977

 

Heatherwood Day-Centre Plan for Mentally Ill

By David Williams
A day centre for the mentally ill is to be opened at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital the first ever in the Southern Area Health Authorities' region.
The centre, which is being jointly financed by the Berkshire County Council Social Services Department and the Area Health Authority, is the first to be opened to cater for the mentally ill in the Ascot and Bracknell area.
Expansion
The centre is definitely to be built at Heatherwood and, although the exact style of construction is not yet known, it is believed it will cost in excess of £30,000.
A spokesman for the Area Health Authority, Dr Jeremy Cobb, told the Times this week that the centre would be large enough to accommodate 40 people and that the construction would be such that expansion could be carried out at a later date.
"The opportunity for the centre arose when money became available for a joint project between the county and us," said Dr Cobb.
At the moment we are working out what materials will be needed. Obviously there have been a lot of difficulties involved, but planning permission has been granted and we hope work will start soon," he added. The plan for the centre has been in the pipeline for a number of months and planners have experienced difficulties over the best materials to use."
Normally building some thing of this sort would take a long time but we have had the difficulty of finding the best and quickest materials to be used within the constraints allowed," explained Dr Cobb.
The finalised plans for the unit will be placed before a meeting of the authorities next week.
Dr Cobb said that the need for the centre was "tremendous" and added that it would serve the whole district. "There was a lot of people in Bracknell who will benefit in the long run from a centre like this.
No longer will people have to travel as far, away as Ealing," he said. The authorities hope that the building will be up by the end of the year but they admit to having experienced some "hiccupping".
Local councillors are "thrilled" that the centre is finally going ahead.
chairman of Berkshire County Coun Mrs Dorothy Benwell, Council, and a member of the Area Health Authority, fought hard for the centre, and she told the Times this week that it was one of the best things to happen in the area for some time.
She explained that it would help improve the facilities for the mentally ill, which are so "abysmally lacking" in the southern area, including, Ascot, Bracknell and Winkfield.
"The people from this area are having to go elsewhere at the moment and it will give them somewhere in their own area," she said. Mrs Benwell pointed out that the centre would also be cheaper in the long run, providing easily accessible daily base as opposed to somewhere permanent.
"We have got to look at ways of helping the mentally ill.
If the district hospital between Bracknell and Wokingham gets off the ground, that will give us somewhere else. But, at the moment, we have to do our best here," she said.
Extract Bracknell Times 30/06/1977

 

Actress for Fete

Actress Jennifer Wilson from the BBC television series The Brothers will open the annual League of Friends fete at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot on Saturday, September 10
Extract Evening Post 15/07/1977

 

Adam McKinlay's Column

"Where has he been ?" you might well ask if you had noticed his absence.
Sunning himself on the Algarve? Writing a short history of William van Straubenzee? Plotting the revival of Wokingham and Bracknell district councils and the abandonment of Berkshire County Council? Or has he been burying his head in the sand for a few weeks and calling it Fun Finding Out? Anyway, whether you like it or not, you are about to find out.
If I wanted to be philosophical (have you ever known me not to?) I could say I have been reflecting on a bed of pain.
However, that has a vaguely noble and brave sound about it, and sadly I can't make much claim to either of these virtues.
In fact it would be fair to describe Old Adam as an unrepentant coward in the matter of his infrequent confrontations with surgeons and their scalpels.
Dammit you are bound to have guessed. You are about to hear about my operation.
Not a blow-by-blow account. Having endured such detailed descriptions from fellow sufferers during my convalescence, I am happy to spare you that little lot.
Besides, my stiff upper lip tends to wobble like blazes whenever I go near a hospital, and it's too soon yet to write my Memoirs of a Coward.
For, truth to tell, apart from the discomfort that goes with digging a nine-inch wide hole in Old Adam to remove a not much more than pin-head size obstruction, I was spoiled silly during my stay in Ward One of Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot.
I can think of no gratitude that goes deeper than that associated with the alleviation, or complete removal, of pain. That blessed feeling when it doesn't hurt any more.
Praise the initial research and diagnosis and the following skill of the surgeon, but without the nursing that follows all would be in vain.
I have no intention of sparing the blushes of Heatherwood's Ward One in singing their praises.
At the same time I have no reason to believe that the same high standard does not apply to every other ward in the hospital.
About my plumbing.
I mention individuals because they are essentially the characters who make up the great human framework that is the emotional therapy leading to speedy recovery.
Most of them have nicknames or pet names in Ward One.
Those who have not are about to receive them.
Leading the Ward One team is a gentle giant of a man we shall call Fair Dinkum, who has an excellent bedside manner, bubbling enthusiasm for his job and like most of his kinfolk dearly loves a gamble.
I am quite sure he will finish up as a brilliant surgeon or top physician.
As a racing tipster I found him to be not only a dead loss, but positively dangerous.
Imagine the late, great James Robertson Justice, the original Doctor in the House star, with a red beard, Australian accent, dressed in shorty shorts, white hose standing in brown brogues topped by a white coat (and a tie only when the consultant surgeon is expected) and you have an excellent picture of Fair Dinkum.
Just looking at him was a morale booster. Ward One is really two wards the other half women. Supervising about 40 beds in all is The Sister.
Somehow one doesn't give nicknames to Sisters.
This fair, handsome, curly-haired woman has just the correct amount of pleasant tolerance required for her very considerable responsibility.
When she smiles, the place lights up and one feels grateful. An impressive woman. I enjoyed observing the efficient way she manipulated both patients and doctors.
Women's Lib my foot!
I went into the anaesthetic not knowing whether the knife job would be necessary.
When I started to come to I landed in the hands of Tweedledum and Tweedledee (I didn't name them) who quickly brought it home to me that the knife had been necessary.
In fact, after their seemingly careless hands had turned me over 1 felt I had been cut in half.
I learned to love Tweedledum and Tweedledee who were some sort of nursing assistants in wine-coloured uniform, but our initial introduction, and particularly my language I don't doubt, was far from cordial.
Then there was Anna, a tiny girl from the Philippines who stole about silently and tirelessly through the night.
She reserved her smile for the dawn's early light and that ungodly first call in a hospital ward.
It was worth waiting for.
Pretty Christine from Wokingham, a one-year nurse and impatient for knowledge in her chosen profession, is probably about nineteen with a maturity of mind twice that age.
For her, nursing and job satisfaction cannot be separated. She also does a very nifty bed bath! Backbone of any ward, and particularly Ward One, are the "Staff" nurses, too few in number and most of them part-time.
Ironically enough, these efficient young ladies, like Sisters, are still called "Staff and somehow or other greater familiarity in this age of first-names-for-everyone just does not happen.
Without exception, each was perpetual motion.
I must not forget Pecky. She is a nurse, wears a pale green uniform, chatters endlessly as if to lay a smokescreen on her quite incredible efficiency.
She does everything at the speed of a Gurkha rifleman doing his quick-pace routine.
The only way to carry on a conversation with Pecky is to run alongside her.
There was also the young and pretty woman doctor who made every injection a delight. But enough of that.
Perhaps you think I have been rather carried away with Ward One in a grateful acknowledgment of a job (on me) well done? Could be.
Ward One, like every other ward in all too many of our hospitals, is badly understaffed. A staff nurse and a junior run this huge ward catering for the needs of anything up to 40 patients from about 9pm to breakfast time.
For this they are paid peanuts. In the case of the junior by present day standards it is tantamount to slave labour.
All politicians should spend at least a month every year in hospital, preferably as a patient.
I can think of no better exercise in humility, which have never pretended to be one of my stronger features.
It would also give them a much better insight into the National Health Service. The same goes for those monotonous critics, all to many of them enjoying the sort of health that does not require even an occasional visit to hospitals.
Hospitals cannot be run on a shoestring. Without health you have nothing, as every millionaire in a wheelchair will tell you.
I shall remember the surgeon who dug his way into my private gravel pit. Not just because he has the same number of lines of former smiles on his face as Old Adam. But because in the enlightened year 1977 he is probably going to have to take "industrial action" in order to get something like the rate for the job. Such is the illness of our society.
When one starts thinking about surgeons and "industrial action" it does not bear examination.
You can't draw lines of demarcation with a scalpel, they can't operate a go-slow on somebody's kidney. If it was not quite so tragic it would indeed be farcical.
In Ward One was an American patient taken ill when he was on holiday. Heatherwood skill and know-how had one for him what thousands of dollars worth of treatment in sunny California had failed to do.
Which is more important; the healing of the sick or the ability to pay? His gratitude was touching.
Well might it be, the cynic might say It cost him nothing. For what it's worth, his gratitude made me feel damned good to be British.
Our National Health Service might be a little bit tatty, but you show me the country in the world that does better. There is not one. Think about it the next time they want to cut the Health Service budget. Then yell at your MP.
Finally, how is this for a little bit of irony? At the beginning of September, Ward One is running the Jumble at the Heatherwood Fete. Already they are asking for your discarded bits and pieces.
The funds so raised are for the benefit of hospital patients! Yes, vocation is very much the word.
Ring Ward One at Heatherwood if you have some jumble. They will be delighted. That's the way they are.
The way I feel as the wound finally heals, they can have the shirt off my back. Thanks again, Ward One, Heatherwood.
Thank you Fair Dinkum, but please no more racing tips! Wish-I-had-said-it department? I got to know Ike's plumbing like the back of my hand.
I could walk around his innards in the dark- Sir William Connor 1909-1967.
Extract Bracknell Times 04/08/1977

 

Coronaries or Cuts It's All in a Day's Work

Reporter Vicki Elcoate
takes a look at a typical day in the life of a Berkshire hospital casualty unit and the pressures and problems facing the staff who man it.
It's a typical day in the casualty unit at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital. Staff are working flat out to cope with a constant stream of patients most of whom shouldn't be there.
Many of the people becoming irritable over the long wait for treatment have only cuts and bruises which should be looked at by their family doctor if medical attention is needed at all.
Instead they are taking up the time of highly trained staff who say they are spending about 75 per cent of their time on work they should not be doing And this is work for which the staff at Heatherwood say they are paid too little although they are often subjected to violent attacks by patients
The basic staff of four nurses and one doctor in the unit have so many serious injuries to deal with that they would prefer the "trivial injuries" not to come along at all.
For instance during the Windsor Pop Festival the unit was full of people: some with cuts, some with drug overdoses and one on LSD hopping about like a rabbit.
Disillusioned
After the biggest car crash in the area ten seriously injured people were rushed into the unit. And if a jumbo jet crashed in Bracknell the tiny department could cope with 25 seriously injured people and 40 out-patients
But so much of the staff's time is spent dealing with minor injuries that they have become disillusioned and dispirited.
On a typical Monday morning, the busiest day of the week, about 60 patients pass through the hands of the staff and the doctor only manages a five minute break.
Then, with patients still waiting to see him. Dr David Jackson might be expected to treat a man suffering from severe chest pains which is probably a heart attack. Also helping will be sisters-in-charge Marion McTrusty and Wendy Morris, who will already have dealt with splinters in fingers, sprained ankles and minor cuts all ailments people used to manage at home.
All the staff agree that they enjoy accident and emergency work which is the real function of the unit.
But, as Dr Jackson said: "1 dislike casualty work in general because the overwhelming majority of patients don't need accident treatment and shouldn't come here at all"
Problem
  "A lot of them should have consulted their own doctor. but for many of them the injuries are so trivial that they don't even need the services of a doctor."
Before coming to Heatherwood Dr Jackson worked at Reading's Battle Hospital where. he said, the problem was much the same.
"We spend about 75 per cent of our time dealing with things we shouldn't be dealing with" he said It's a waste of National Health Service resources" He would like to see better first aid education for school children and adults so that people would be able to take care of themselves
"You never really stop." Dr Jackson said Sometimes you can never see the end of it all"
He said some people come into the unit with injuries that are several days old because they cannot be bothered to make an appointment to see their own doctors
Experience
We can refuse to see someone who can be treated by a GP and we do this as often as necessary." he said.
To make matters worse, cuts in the National Health Service mean fewer student nurses to help out in the unit and less pay for doctors in the service And NHS doctors' salaries have now fallen so far behind that Dr Jackson could earn five times as much as he does by working for a nursing agency
If he was asked to work an extra night at Heatherwood he would be paid 66p an hour. But if he worked the same time at another hospital for an agency he would receive £3 an hour
"I can almost envisage a time when casualty will be staffed at all times by agency doctors," he said
Obviously I would consider it myself. My discontent is prevalent among so many doctors at the moment
Violent
  And if that isn't already a gloomy enough picture of life at the casualty unit nurses have recently become the victims of violent attacks by drunk or aggressive patients. Two of the nurses at Heatherwood working at night have been badly bruised by patients and the instructions from the hospital administration are not to try and restrain violent people
"But it is quite difficult not to retaliate. Sister Morris said. "Sometimes we feel sorry for them and sometimes we just accept it and turn a blind eye. At other times we feel like giving them one back"
So why does anybody want to work in the casualty unit at Heatherwood?
The answer seems to be the fact that the unexpected is always just round the corner As Sister Morris says, "you never know what's going to happen next".
She may be dressing a finger or checking life-saving equipment when she is asked to tell distraught people that a relative has died.
And with all the other problems nurses have to face this task turns out to be one of the most difficult
"It's very traumatic for the nurses as well as the patients". Sister Morris said "I don't think people realise that. It's very difficult to get the words out sometimes. But equally it is satisfying if a patient happens to come round."
And even working in the unit for 16 years. as Sister McTrusty has done, does not take away the emotion many nurses feel in some cases.
"Cases with children or old people affect the nurses most". Sister McTrusty said "But we have got to be calm and not fluster because we never know what's going to come in" And it's that immediacy which makes work in the casualty unit a favourite for some nurses.
Heatherwood, with just one emergency operating theatre. four cubicles and a resuscitation room, covers the area. from Egham. Wokingham. Bracknell. Crowthorne to Windsor Safari Park and the Surrey border
Alert
Sister Morris said "In our area we have got a railway. Bracknell industrial estates. we are on a flight path, there is Royal Ascot, the A30 and motorway, but we have had no major disaster yet touchwood"
But what if a disaster should happen and the jumbo jet does crash in the middle of Bracknell First patients would be taken to Wexham Park Hospital at Slough, which is the best equipped to deal with many badly injured people But if they ran out of space Heatherwood could be put on alert
A "crash call" goes out from the unit, summoning half a dozen doctors from other parts of the hospital. An anaesthetist, surgical. medical and accident doctors could all be on the scene within two or three minutes.
Emergency
Heatherwood has a special cupboard full of emergency equipment like extra dressings for use on an influx of patients. Despite all the precautions that are taken Heatherwood has actually only been on major alert twice
Once was the occasion when a jet was circling Bracknell and electing fuel. The other was when Loddon Bridge collapsed and then all the casualties were taken to Battle Hospital
One of the busiest times was during the Windsor Pop Festival. Then there were people lying everywhere." Sister Morris said
That night we also had a bad road accident and a drug overdose in which case it was hard to decide what to do first."
So in the end it is the responsibility of these nurses with all the problems they face who take care of so many people's lives.
Next time you visit the casualty unit remember the difficult time they have and that the never failing sympathy and cheerfulness may just be a front.
"It's nice for the public to see how we feel about things." Sister Morris said "They can stand and moan but we can't moan back at them"
Extract Evening Post 15/08/1977

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by three photo's.The first photo showed Dr David Jackson Checking the ankle of a patient,
the second showed Sister Wendy Morris checking equipment,
the third showed a nurse looking at a patient on the couch.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photos here.

Webmaster Comment:- This story over 47 years ago could have almost been written yesterday,as A/E depts still get the wrong sort of patients turning up.

 

Take-a-Break Scheme Aids Local Couple

By Sue Hicks
An elderly Crowthorne couple will be the first people to benefit from a new holiday-break scheme designed to relieve family pressure caused by nursing old people.
The take-a-break scheme has been launched by Berkshire Nurses Trust in a bid to compensate for the lack of hospital beds for psycho-geriatrics.
Distraught families caring for the elderly and the senile will be helped by the scheme, launched with funds from the Trust.
The Charity Commissioners have been asked to give approval for Trust funds to be used in this way.
Now Soroptimists in the area have stepped forward to offer £100 to help a couple whose plight they spotlighted to Trust chairman and Age Concern chairman Mrs Kitty Dancy, JP.
She explained to the Times that an old man looked after his ill wife at home.
Berkshire Nurses Trust is trying to obtain a place in a home for the woman to give her husband a holiday break.
"We are absolutely delighted that the Soroptimists have taken such an interest in our scheme," Mrs Dancy said. Nurses have advised the Trust that the man, who constantly nurses his wife, needs a break.
Battered
The news of the first couple to be helped by the scheme follows a claim by the Bracknell secretary of Age Concern that the elderly are being catered by relatives at their wits end caring for them.
Mrs Elsie Potterton cited cases where pensioners were thrown across the kitchen, mentally "beaten" and sometimes even left to walk the streets, depending on strangers for food, warmth and comfort.
Berkshire Nurses Trust hopes to help more families, who will be recommended by social service departments, health visitors and doctors.
While plans are under way to help the first Crowthorne couple, Mrs Daney applauded the devotion of families looking after relatives all day, every day.
She has been among prominent campaigners for a day centre for the mentally-ill in Berkshire and the successful fight has led to plans for a £30,000 unit at Ascot's Heatherwood hospital, the first such centre in the Southern Area Health Authority.
Pressure on families might be relieved before families got to "breaking point," with the help of both the day centre and holiday scheme, Mrs Dancy said.
Extract Bracknell Times 25/08/1977

 

Cash Plan for Berks Nursing Shelved

By Paul Smith
A controversial scheme to inject a further £400,000 into East Berkshire's nursing services at the expense of the area's administration, catering, porters and domestic departments was shelved yesterday.
But health chiefs on the county's Area Health Authority have said the plan could be taken out of cold storage if a thorough investigation is carried out into the consequences of such a drastic move.
The scheme was outlined to the AHA meeting at Wexham Park Hospital, Slough, by Dr Jeremy Cobb the district physician for East Berkshire. Dr Cobb said the AHA is not providing "sufficient money" for nursing and hoped that the scheme drawn up by the district management team-would help push more money into nursing
He said the proposal involves switching money from the other departments annual allocations into nursing Dr Cobb warned that already hospital wards are being shut down because of an acute shortage of nurses including Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital and Wexham Park.
Short
He said the nursing budget for East Berks was £190,000 short at the end of July, and that another £200,000 could be used to provide a much needed nursing school in the area.
He stressed that the whole purpose of the exercise is to divert money to help the nursing staff.
Dr Cobb said the total budget of the four sections suggested for cuts is £4 million and the 10 per cent switch would have to be less if introduced now, because there is only six months left in the current financial year.
But anxious AHA members demanded to know the effects the scheme would have on staff and patients.
Dr Cobb said that on the administration front it would be difficult to give a forecast, but some functions would not be carried out.
He said it was the same for the other sections involved. AHA treasurer David Smith calculated that 170 jobs could be affected by the proposal and he warned: "Until we have a chance to look at these cuts we should not go along this avenue."
AHA vice-chairman Mr C. John Van den Burgh said the authority has "every sympathy" for the district, but he hit out at the scheme. He said: "The DMT has got to look right across the board.
It is irresponsible to say you need a 10 per cent cut on those services without thorough investigation."
Berkshire's Area nursing officer Miss Esme Few said she would "very much like" nurses to get the lions' share of the budget, but she added: "I would like to be quite sure that nurses will not be going back to cleaning ward floors and portering."
The AHA decided to shelve the scheme until an in-depth report is made, If the report satisfies the authority, the scheme could still implemented.
Extract Evening Post 21/09/1977

 

Midwife Crisis Shuts Down Hospital Beds

By Terry Kerr
A chronic shortage of trained midwives in East Berkshire has forced the closure of 32 hospital beds.
Heatherwood Hospital, at Ascot and the Canadian Red Cross Hospital, at Taplow, have each lost 16 obstetric beds. Pregnant mothers may now have to go to maternity units outside the East Berks district because of the heavy pressure on existing services.
And health chiefs are appealing for any midwives in the district currently out of work to come forward and offer their services.
In a statement, health chiefs say: "The East Berks District continues to experience a shortage of trained nursing staff due to an inability to recruit "A number of beds remain closed at hospitals within the district.
In recent months, the position with regard to trained midwifery staff has grown more acute."
The statement says the root of the problem is the decision by the Central Midwives Board to press for a reduction in the number of maternity units in the district from three to two. This has meant, say health chiefs, that all midwifery training has ground to a temporary halt
Now the health authority says that as the number of units has been reduced to two, the training programme should get under way again in January next year.
"Meanwhile, however, there is a serious problem in maintaining existing services. It has been necessary to close 16 beds at the Canadian Red Cross Hospital and 16 beds at Heatherwood with immediate effect."
"The reduction in facilities will place even greater pressures on existing services and it may be necessary in these circumstances to divert some booked admissions to neighbouring maternity units outside this district.
"Expectant mothers will be informed by the unit at which they are booked if arrangements have to be changed.
"During this period of acute pressure of services, it is hoped that any midwives living locally and not currently, employed would come forward and offer their services to the hospitals concerned on a temporary basis if necessary."
Any midwives who may be able to help are asked to contact the senior nursing officers at either the Canadian Red Cross or Heatherwood Hospitals.
A spokesman for the Berks Area Health Authority's East District said yesterday that the midwives had felt mothers at the three units previously in operation would not get enough care unless one of the units was closed.
Extract Evening Post 22/09/1977

 

Staffing Crisis Threatens Hospitals

By Sue Hicks
Hospitals in East Berkshire will come to a stand still unless urgent moves are made to replace staff.
The grim warning comes from the secretary of the National Union of Public Employees for the East Berks Hospital Branch, Mr Tony Onyewu, following government threats of further cutbacks on health service spending this week.
His message spells disaster for hospital services throughout the area, which, he claimed, are already operating on low staffing levels.
He said between 4,000 and 5,000 staff particularly nurses and ancillary staff with most contact with the patients had to work overtime to "make up" for lack of staff.
Ill
And many were falling ill because of pressure of working long hours, tending patients and keeping the hospital system running. There were too few remaining staff to cover for them, he said.
Mr Onyewu revealed that hospitals in the district had already lost 70 staff in savage pruning exercises.
"We have been waiting for them to be replaced," he added. "But they have not been replaced so far.
We are going to put further pressure on the management to come to negotiation "The management tactics will grind the whole system to a standstill.
It is not of our making. The only way the system can function now is with long hours of overtime."
Mr Onyewu also claimed that the overtime demands were boosting pay bills beyond the level they would reach by replacing the 70 staff lost in earlier cuts.
Area health authority spokesman, Mr Brian Mackness, explained the staff cutback as an "attempt to cut the overall wages bill in each district throughout the area.
This, he insisted, had been done, despite the union's claims that overtime boosted the bill beyond its old level.
Mr. Mackness agreed that approximately 70 staff had been lost by authority's policy of non-replacement.
Desperate Shortage of Midwives
A chronic shortage of midwives in East Berkshire has led to 16 obstetric beds at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital being closed today.
East Berkshire Area Health Authority is appealing to retired midwives to return to the profession in a desperate bid to increase numbers.
Extract Bracknell Times 22/09/1977

 

Heatherwood Facing Shutdown

Heatherwood Hospital is under threat of closure,according to East Berkshire Community Health Council.
Officials fear that the action of consultants pushing for one big hospital for all of East Berkshire could bring an end to maternity, surgical and paediatric services at the hospital, which serves Bracknell, Ascot and Crowthorne.
The council's shock prediction follows a joint meeting between the community health council and area health authority officials on Tuesday.
During the meeting, held in Slough, AHA chairman Sir John Hedges, said that the authority would be consulting the "next tier" in the health hierarchy over the consultants reluctance to accept plans for a new maternity unit at Wexham, which would join Heatherwood.
Holding out
During discussion for rationalising the health services in the area, they had put forward plans for one big unit at Windsor.
Now the CHC fears the consultants are still holding out for a large Windsor hospital and want to withdraw other services from Heatherwood Hospital.
The consultants plan had been overruled and plans for Wexham Park, due to start in 1979 and be completed in 1981, were chosen instead.
Sir John spoke of consultants writing to the Press damning the new plans. And Community physician Dr Jeremy Cobb spoke of alarmist reports/ about plans.
"I wonder if it seems consultants are not always willing to be democratic?" Sir John asked. Community health council. chairman, Norman Nicholson agreed: "We can no longer stuff their mouths with gold," he said.
"Can I appeal to consultants in the district that democracy has gone against them," Mr Nicholson added. "Let them get together and care for the mothers and obstetrics in this area.
"Mothers are wondering if it is safe to go into hospital if the consultants are feeling the way they do. They write letters to the press but refuse to give their names."
Withdrawal
After the meeting CHC secretary, Miss Juliet Mattinson, revealed that a single unit could mean " the end of Heatherwood."
"And that would not just be the maternity unit," she claimed, quoting a year-old document from the consultants calling for the withdrawal of general surgery and paediatric services from Heatherwood as well as the maternity; unit.
"The community health council fears that is still what the consultants are holding out for," she added.
The medics could be demanding one maternity hospital and general hospital for the area at Windsor."
During debate at the joint meeting, the CHC pressed the AHA to maintain plans for two major hospitals in the area, with Heatherwood or an alternative site retained for people living in the south.
The debate followed the closure of 32 maternity beds, 16 at Heatherwood, last week. because of lack of midwives in the area.
Mothers to be were warned they might have to give birth outside the area but health officials told the meeting that only two had been diverted so far, both from the Royal Canadian hospital at Taplow.
Chief area nursing officers reported success in the first five days of a " Back To Midwifery" campaign launched last week at Heatherwood. Already five candidates had stepped forward to do the job.
When the number of midwives improves, the beds will be re-opened.
Extract Bracknell Times 06/10/1977

 

Building Officer Retires

Mr Ernest Foreman, centre, is presented with two cheques and a long-service certificate by Mr Derek Fairman.
Mr Foreman's wife Joan received a bouquet. Heatherwood Hospital's building officer retired last week after 40 years in the post.
Mr Ernest Foreman was presented with a long service certificate and two cheques by Mr Derek Fairman, the hospital administrator.
Windsor District Health Area gave one cheque and Heatherwood Hospital the other.
Mr Foreman received a Queen's Silver Jubilee medal earlier this year.
His wife, Mrs Joan Foreman, was presented with a bouquet by Mr Fairman.
Extract Bracknell Times 06/10/1977

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.The photo showed Derek Fairman presenting his Mr Foreman's award and his wife with a bouquet.
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Can You help?

Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot
By offering accommodation to a nurse in training?
If you live within walking distance of the hospital and are willing to help
please phone Manda Bragg, Ascot 23333
Extract Bracknell Times 20/10/1977

 

Children's Christmas Cheer

Staff at the Transport and Road Research Laboratory. Crowthorne are again bringing Christmas cheer to children.
They have collected toys and dolls. The gifts, which are collected annually, were handed over by the laboratory's director, Alec Silverleal, right to Mr R. Jones, chief welfare officer of the Departments of the Environment and Transport. On extreme right is Miss J. D. Greenburgh, welfare officer, of TREL
The staff collected nearly 200 dolls and toys as well as CSS The gifts will go to children at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, Harts Leap Cheshire Home, Sandhurst and Berkshire County Council's in-care home at Bracknell.
Extract Evening Post 28/11/1977

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.The photo showed Alec Silverleal, Mr R. Jones, and Miss J. D. Greenburgh,
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Cake icing

In preparation for that busy Christmas season the ladies of Bracknell's Soroptimist Society enjoyed a demonstration of cake icing. Mrs Ann Muir, of Binfield showed the assembled members and friends the arts of making marzipan and transferring figures onto the freshly iced cake,"
Members then tried their hand at icing cakes themselves.
The meeting, which took place at the Maternity Unit of Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital, was chaired by Mrs. Audrey Harrison, vice-chairman, who took over in the absence of chairman Mrs Jane Mills, who was taken ill two weeks ago.
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 01/12/1977

 

TRRL Gifts

Nearly 200 dolls and toys were presented by the director of the Transport and Road Research Laboratory, Mr Alec Silverleaf, to Mr R. Jones, Chief Welfare Officer of the Department of the Environment and Transport.
A large number of the gifts were dressed or made and contributed by staff at TRRL.
In addition, the sum of £85 raised in a staff collection was Local charities which will benefit from the toy drive are Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot; Harts Leap Cheshire Home, Sandhurst; and Berkshire County Council in-care Homes, Bracknell.
Extract Wokingham Times 08/12/1977

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.
The photo showed Above, centre, is Mr Alec Silverleaf and Miss J. D. Greenburgh, Welfare Officer for the TRRL, making the presentation' to Mr Jones
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All Present and Correct

By Glyn Roberts
Marilyn and Robert Tindall had an early Christmas present when their daughter Tara was born nearly three months before she was expected.
She weighed only 2lbs 12ozs and doctors gave her little chance of surviving.
But Tara hung on gamely in a special baby care unit in Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital, and now she can live outside an incubator.
Tara, who now weighs 3lbs 10ozs, is unlikely to go home to Highfield, Great Hollands, Bracknell, until the New Year. She will be kept in hospital until she weighs 5lbs.
Marilyn, 27, and Robert, 30, thought Tara would be born on January 25. But she arrived on November 13 and her parents had to put another name on their Christmas list.
Extract Evening Post 14/12/1977

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.The photo showed Marilyn and Robert Tindall and baby Tara.
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Tiny Tara Comes Early

Robert and Marilynne Tindall with their baby girl in her cot in the special care unit at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot.
By Elaine Cavanagh
Tiny Tara Tindall was the one present her parents did not have on their Christmas list. It all came as a bit of a surprise for Robert and Marilyn Tindall, of Highfield, Great Hollands, when their daughter decided she would like to taste a slice of the season's fun. For I when she arrived she was two and a half months premature.
Only 2lb 12oz at birth Tara was transferred from the Heatherwood Hospital maternity unit to the baby "special care unit" where she is still under the watchful eye of caring nurses.
She is now 3lb 10oz and making good progress in the big world.
But mum and dad will have to be patient until they can have their new member of the family at home, because little Tara will have to be 5lb before that happens.
Meanwhile, the staff at Heatherwood will continue to care for the "miracle baby".
Mrs Tindall said this week it was "amazing" that Tara had survived because when she was born doctors had little hope for her.
Tara, who was born on November 25, has been living outside her incubator since last Thursday and Mr and Mrs Tindall say she was doing very well.
And as for a Christmas present for Tara, Mum and Dad have not yet decided.
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 15/12/1978

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How A Hospital Makes Christmas So Happy

UP to 20 babies and youngsters will be spending Christmas in the children's ward at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot. It won't be the same as home, of course, but it will be a merry time, with carol-singing, Father Christmas, turkey and plum pudding presents.
Many parents will spend most of the day with their children on Ward Two, which has open visiting.
Christmas tea is provided for parents and relations as well as for patients.
The big day begins with stockings filled with gifts from Santa Claus (in this case a member of the League of Friends).
Presents from the children's families, brought in the day before, are opened at the same time.
Both sisters on the ward are on duty on Christmas Day and most of the nurses pop in even if they are not on duty. So it is a cheerful day with plenty going on for the children.
All the patients who can go home are sent home before Christmas, and only emergency cases are admitted. It is impossible for the sisters to estimate the numbers they will have on the ward more than a day or two before the holiday.
It varies from year to year between two and 20 patients.
David Lynch (13) has been in Heatherwood for nine weeks and he hoped to go home in time for Christmas. He knew what he wanted Santa to bring him "Contact Four", a game with counters. David attends Holyport Manor School in Maidenhead.
It is unlikely that tiny Mark West will be at home in Bracknell for his first Christmas. He is only 13 weeks old and was due to have an operation.
Heatherwood has three rooms for patients' mothers to stay in, but Nursery Nurse Sally Stannard explained that these were used only when a mother was breast-feeding her baby or when a child needed extra special attention.
Sally stays in the nurses' home at the hospital. Her parents live in Binfield Road, Wokingham.
She said that she sometimes got very attached to her tiny charges, but added that learning not to get too involved was part of her job. Although she will not be on duty on Christmas Day she thought she would visit the children to wish them Happy Christmas.
Mrs Barbara Lubbock hoped that Alison, who is only 4 months old, would be home for her first Christmas. Mrs Lubbock travelled to Heatherwood every day from her home near Windsor to visit her little daughter.
Tony Scott, from Egham, Surrey, who is six, was admitted in the week before Christmas. He was not too worried about spending Christmas in hospital, and hoped that Santa would bring him "lots of things".
Joanne Pierce, also six, thought she would be home in time for Christmas. "I am going to go home when my legs stop hurting," she said, and then added that they did not hurt too much.
She hoped Santa Claus would bring her a radio and a dancing dolly. Joanne goes to Bullbrook School, Bracknell, which is close to her home.
She said her mother goes to see her every day in hospital. She added that she would not mind too much being in Heatherwood for Christmas, as the nurses were so nice.
Mr Alan Watkins, of Quintilis, Bracknell, thought his son Stewart, who is 13 months old, would be home before Christmas. He thought Stewart minded being in hospital because he missed not being able to do the things he did at home. Mr Watkins and his wife would spend the day with their son if he was not discharged.
Although it seems sad that young children might have to spend the festive season, when there is such emphasis on family life, in an institution, Christmas at Heathrow is jolly and there is much cheer and goodwill. The children are not allowed to forget that Christmas Day is traditionally their day.
Extract Bracknell Times 22/12/1977

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a two photos.The first photo showed Nurse Sally Stannard with tiny Mark West, who will be spending his first Christmas in Heatherwood Hospital.
The Second Showed Tony Scott (6) with one of hospital toys.
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Worry over Berks 'Baby Factory'

Worried mothers are afraid a big new maternity unit planned for East Berks could turn into a " baby factory."
They have voiced their fears to the East Berks Community Health Council, which is fighting against the scheme to bring the area's maternity services under one roof at Windsor.
CHC chairman Mr Norman Nicholson claims the unit could be "hideously expensive." And, in a letter to the East Berks consultants who are backing the scheme, he warns the move will be unpopular.
The CHC believes health chiefs should keep the present maternity unit at Ascot's Heatherwood hospital open and expand facilities at Wexham Park Hospital, Slough.
Mr Nicholson believes mothers will not get the best service if the 4,000 plus births in East Berks each year had to take place at one centre.
"We are aware of strong resistance by mothers to baby factories, and the community at large expresses great anxiety about travelling distances," he said in the letter.
Money
"The Windsor option could be hideously expensive and would almost certainly involve demolition and replacement of some existing facilities. We question this use of taxpayers money.
"We are convinced it would be unpopular particularly with Slough and Bracknell, and we believe that excellent maternity care can be provided by continuing the Heatherwood unit and building at Wexham." Mr Nicholson also feels hospital maternity units should be provided alongside children's units.
There is no such unit at Windsor, although Heatherwood does have one and one could be provided at Wexham Park.
His letter has now been passed on by the consultants to Regional Health Authority headquarters at Oxford.
Community Health Council secretary Miss Juliet Mattinson said yesterday that a number of mothers in the area had expressed fears about large maternity units becoming baby factories.
It is not yet known how much the proposed new unit at Windsor will cost.
Extract Evening Post 30/12/1977