Heatherwood Hospital
January to June 1979

Give Us A hospital In Bracknell

By Times reporter
A £25 million hospital should be built in Bracknell, says the Community Health Council.
It should replace Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital and serve Bracknell, Ascot, Wokingham, Crowthorne, Sandhurst and parts of Maidenhead.
Work on the new hospital should start as soon as possible, probably in the mid-1980s.
The CHC recommendation, made after prolonged discussion of a draft document on the future of hospital services in East Berkshire, is due to be discussed by next month's meeting of the Berkshire Area Health Authority.
The recommendation comes as a surprise, for it was thought that the CHC, whose responsibility is to represent the local community's interest in the health service would opt instead for extending and improving existing hospitals.
In their submission to the Area Health Authority, the CHC says: "Members have come firmly to the view that the difficulties of a central Bracknell siting are much less formidable than at first sight, and that there are some surprising benefits to be gained.
"The CHC is convinced that what is required for text of Health Council's submission to AHA
the next century is a new hospital in Bracknell which would include acute services and community hospital provision.
This is the last opportunity to make the right decision for the long term and the CHC urges the AHA and all other authorities concerned to adopt this option."
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 04/01/1979

 

The Case For A New Hospital In Bracknell

The East Berkshire Community Health Council this week outlined its views on local hospital services and explained why it is recommending a new hospital in Bracknell.
In an official statement, the CHC says: In seeking to discharge its responsibility for representing the local community's interest in the health service, the CHC was faced with a formidable task regarding the issues raised in this document.
It was recognised that the major question to be faced immediately was the future location of hospital services for the south of East Berks.
Accordingly the CHC arranged a "think-tank" meeting to which representatives of over 30 organisations in that part of the district were invited.
Discussion
  Option 3 was rejected out-right and discussion centred on the choice between Option 1 and Option 2.
The majority view was that a new site solution for acute services serving a larger catchment area than Heatherwood was ideal but the difficulties posed in the discussion draft were acknowledged.
The CHC has reason to believe that some people who would naturally support the retention and development of Heatherwood would agree on central Bracknell siting if Heatherwood did not exist.
A third view expresses total opposition to removal of services from Heatherwood.
Clearly these views cannot all be satisfied.
The CHC agreed that the majority view was the ideal, provided central siting in Bracknell could be achieved, and has examined the case against Option 2. Members have come very firmly to the view that the difficulties are much less formidable than appear at first sight and that there are some surprising benefits to be gained.
Cost
The CHC is convinced that what is required for the next century is a new hospital in Bracknell which would include acute services and community hospital provision.
This is the last opportunity to make the right decision for the long term and the CHC urges the AHA and all other authorities concerned to adopt Option 2.
The thinking which has led the CHC to this view is set out here.
1. The true capital cost penalty of a new site strategy is much less than suggested in the draft.
The costing on Option 1 takes no account of necessary replacement of old stock at Heatherwood.
The true cost penalty arises from the replacement of the maternity and gynaecology unit and other newish provision.
Surplus
2. A new site solution which could include community hospital facilities would provide a significant reduction in land holding.
Heatherwood is nearly 55 acres and retention and development would necessitate additional purchase for Bracknell Community Hospital say five acres minimum.
New site strategy could be accomplished on 30 acres with low compact building. (The CHC is not advocating skyscraper hospitals.)
One essential element of a community hospital is an Out-patient Department.
A new site strategy in the centre of Bracknell would preclude OPD at Heatherwood and it therefore seems highly unlikely that a hospital presence would remain there.
The CHC believes that reducing the number of sites in the locality has benefits and putting community hospital provision with acute services where this is possible is attractive.
Vacation of Heatherwood would produce a net land surplus of 25 acres and the realisation of a significant capital sum which would be a useful offset to capital requirements.
Reduced acreage would have favourable revenue consequences.
3. Particular advantages to be gained from new site, particularly any of three mentioned by Bracknell Development Corporation (if big enough) are improved accessibility for Bracknell, much improved accessibility for Crowthorne and Sandhurst, better for those Maidonians who now look to Heatherwood and better for Walthams, Shurlock Row, etc, who probably now look to Reading
The adverse effect on Sunninghill, Sunningdale, Ascot and Windsor is of the order of three miles.
4. It is acknowledged that the capital requirement will be needed over a shorter period than for the Heatherwood solution but, to put it in perspective, the total is not much more than one year's revenue.
Some £6 million is programmed for East Berks by the Regional Health Authority to 1987/88 with more in subsequent years and the CHC believes that this should be "juggled" towards the new site objective.
The sum included for mental illness beds is programmed to finish spending in 1985/86.
While these are desperately needed the CHC believes that the possible delay that would be occasioned by opting for a new site is less than feared. Bracknell MIND acknowledges this complication but nonetheless supports a new site.
Loan
Other Health Authorities have acquired sums of money via Development Corporations from the New Towns Fund.
Why should the Regional Health Authority and/or the Department of Health and Social Security not be persuaded to make a capital "loan" against sale proceeds?
5. The problem has been mentioned of creating an operationally viable first phase.
While it might be relatively small the CHC would advance the suggestion of starting with: GP/Community Hospital provision in whole or part including day facilities for the elderly; acute psychiatric; acute geriatric; and day surgery if possible to run independently of major surgical effort at Heatherwood.
The operational problems for the specialist services would be no worse than at present.
There is now no acute geriatric presence in a District General Hospital setting in East Berks and acute psychiatry has been completely isolated at St Bernard's.
Quicker
The CHC would expect to see a full development plan worked out before Phase I is started.
6. While this strategy might lead to a marginally later start on providing additional facilities for the south of the district the replacement of old stock would probably be accomplished quicker
7. The CHC is well aware that it is not suggesting an easy option but believes that the long-term benefits will far outweigh the difficulties of achieving them.
The CHC has not overlooked the question posed about the possible change of use of King Edward VII Hospital, Windsor, but considers that, apart from the possible relocation of gynaecological services along side maternity, the district will be dependent on the existing services provided there for several decades.
So much could change that the CHC does not consider it fruitful to make comments at this stage.
The five options being considered
These are the five options under consideration for the future location of acute hospital services for East Berks Health District, which comprises Bracknell, Windsor and Maidenhead, Slough and part of south Bucks, with a current population of 340,000 and a projected population of 363,000 by 1991.
OPTION 1Serving the north from Wexham King Edward VII and the south from Heatherwood.
This represents least change to major centres and therefore least capital cost, estimated at £12.80 million but this figure takes no account of expenditure required for growth in West District.
It would serve the south of the District with most acute specialities (350 beds approx from present 280), where north looks to KE VII/Wexham Park (1,070 beds).
There would be no improvement in accessibility or staff recruitment, and Bracknell and Wokingham would continue to look to different centres for acute services.
In the event of very long-term growth, old problems would not have been resolved.
OPTION 2 Serving the north from Wexham King Edward VII (1,070) and the south from a new hospital at Bracknell (510 beds).
It would bring acute services to location able to serve Bracknell and Wokingham, and relieve pressure on Reading.
It would need substantial capital development, estimated at £24.67 million., The estimated population population to be served by a new hospital would be 140- 153,000.
It would have access to Bracknell and Wokingham labour pools, and would cope with further growth in very long term.
OPTION 3Ceasing to use Heatherwood for acute services and serving the south from extended facilities at Reading, Frimley and Wexham /King Edward VII (1,160 beds plus 260 elsewhere).
This centralises on two sites in north of district, has heavy capital investment concentrated only in north of district, and includes requirements out of District capital costs estimated at £17.92 million.
It would mean withdrawal of acute services from south of district, the extra workload going to Reading and Frimley.
Cost advantages would come from concentration of services.
There would be potential staff recruitment problems, and no certainty that problems concerning Bracknell would not be raised again.
OPTION 4 Serving the north from Wexham only and the south from Heatherwood. This would operate as in Option 1 with additional capital investments split between Heatherwood (440 beds) and Wexham (960 beds) to replace KE VII, estimated £16.5 million.
It would mean withdrawal of acute services from Windsor.
There would be revenue cost advantages of concentration of services, but heavier staff demand at Heatherwood could bring difficulties in recruitment.
OPTION 5 Serving the north from Wexham only and the south from Bracknell.
This would operate as in Option 2 with additional capital investment split between Bracknell (610 beds) and Wexham (950 beds) to replace KE VII, estimated £28.01 million.
It would involve withdrawal of acute services from Windsor, but offer revenue cost advantages of concentration of services.
Heavier staff demand at Bracknell would come from extended labour pool.-
Extract Bracknell Times 04/01/1979

 

Hospital For Bracknell Has Our Backing

Health Council
A scheme for a new general hospital in Bracknell has been backed by the East Berkshire Community Health Council.
The new hospital is one of three options.
Berkshire Area Health Authority put forward the three possibilities in a discussion document on the future of the Health Service in East Berkshire.
The Community Health Council held a "think tank" meeting at which the various options were discussed and has now come out strongly in favour of the option which includes a new area hospital in Bracknell.
This would probably mean closing part or all of Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot.
The council says that members are convinced that what is needed for the next century is a new hospital in Bracknell which would include acute services and community hospital provision.
A new hospital could result in a reduction of the amount of land occupied.
Heatherwood is almost 55 acres but a new hospital could be built on 30 acres without resorting to skyscraper buildings
An out-patients' department in the Bracknell hospital would mean Heatherwood would no longer be needed and surplus land could be sold to contribute towards cost.
Advantages would include improved accessibility for Bracknell, Crowthorne and Sandhurst as well as other areas, against an adverse effect on Sunninghill, Sunning- dale, Ascot and Windsor.
The council says it is well aware that it is not suggesting an easy option but believes that the long-term benefits will far outweigh the difficulties of achieving them.
Access
Support for the scheme also comes from Mr Alan Furley, prospective Labour Party parliamentary candidate for Bracknell and Wokingham. He said at the weekend:" We in the Labour Party locally believe strongly that a community the size of Bracknell should not only have its own community hospital but it is also the ideal place for a new district general hospital to serve Bracknell, its surrounding villages, and Wokingham.
"In our view it is essential that the hospital be as centrally placed as possible in order to ensure easy access for patients, staff and visitors.
One of the major difficulties with Heatherwood has always been access, especially for the elderly and for those who do not have their own cars "I hope that the area health authority will support the views of the community health council and the Labour Party and proceed as quickly as possible with this long overdue hospital provision for the Bracknell and Wokingham area."
Extract Evening Post 08/01/1979

 

"Their" hospital

Having campaigned unsuccessfully for a main hospital at Pinewood since the early 60s, based on predicted population figures, I am glad that the pleas for an improved hospital service for Crowthorne and Sandhurst have at last been heard.
Until recently, Crowthorne and Sandhurst people were being told that Heatherwood and Wexham Park were "their" hospitals.
Certainly, a main hospital in Bracknell is a move in the right direction for Crowthorne and Sandhurst patients and obviously will be better for Bracknell and Wokingham people.
However, it is suggested that there should be a community hospital in Bracknell also.
I still maintain that Pinewood should be given every consideration for this.
It is an ideal site for such a hospital. Its location is good relative to the people it would serve and its excellent surroundings would be perfect for non-acute patients.
Extract Evening Post & Bracknell Times 11/01/1979

 

It's Great To Be Back

by Adam Mckinlay
It's good to be back in spite of strikes, inflation and politicians thinking up new ways of telling bigger whoppers to a more and more cynical populace.
Once again Heatherwood Hospital has done a magnificent job on Old Adam for which I am duly grateful to the surgeon doctors and particularly the sisters and nursing staff of Ward One.
Dracula's
One young doctor complained good naturedly that my description of their "knife work" the last time I wrote about Heatherwood made them sound like a "collection of Dracula's."
Sorry Geoff, I'll take your word for it that apprehensions about surgery are all in the mind, but my mind takes some convincing, and being a bit of a coward about well intentioned and even brilliant surgeons doing a knife job on me doesn't help much.
Just kidding. No one could have a higher opinion of surgeons in general and Heatherwood in particular than yours truly.
Thanks again everyone. If it was left to me there would be no National Health Service hospital problems. Who the hell cares about the cost of relieving and all so often eliminating altogether pain and suffering? Sadly it doesn't work out that way.
I never was very strong on humility, but there is nothing quite like a knife job (sorry Geoff) to bring one down to earth.
Extract Bracknell Times 18/01/1979

 

Plan to close down hospital hits snag

A controversial proposal to close an East Berkshire hospital has hit more opposition.
The scheme, one of three options suggested to provide a new general hospital in the area, has been backed by the East Berkshire Community Health Council. Health Council.
But Sunninghill Parish Council has expressed "alarm" at the idea of closing Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, and the medical advisor to Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council says it is impractical.
Dr Samuel McClatchey is recommending the council's housing and health committee to object to the proposal when it meets next Tuesday
The community health council is convinced that a new hospital is needed in Bracknell, which would mean closing all or part of Heatherwood.
Concern
The Berkshire Area Health Authority has also suggested developing Heatherwood instead of replacing it an idea backed by Dr McClatchey In a report to the housing and health committee he says that he could not think of a site large enough for a community hospital in Bracknell.
He appreciates the concern of the parish council over the community health council's suggestion to sell the 55-acre Heatherwood site and build elsewhere.
Dr McClatchey says that most members of the area health authority favour the plan to develop Heatherwood and calls on the committee to add its support.
Opposition
In a letter to the area health authority Sunninghill Parish Council says it is totally opposed to closing Heatherwood.
It says it would be cheaper and quicker to develop the existing hospital instead of building a new one.
And if the Heatherwood Hospital site, which is in the Green Belt, was sold for anything except for another hospital, the parish council and local residents would put up fierce opposition.
Mr Alan Furley, prospective Labour Party parliamentary candidate for Bracknell and Wokingham, has backed the proposal to build the hospital in Bracknell.
Extract Evening Post 27/01/1979

 

Thank You Nurses

May I take the opportunity of expressing through your letters column my thanks and appreciation to all the staff of Ward Three at Heatherwood Hospital who were so kind and helpful during my recent brief stay there.
I did not get everyone's name but would like to thank in particular S.E.N. Freyne and P/N Vaugham who were never short of a joke.
Robert Dean, 17 Exchange Road, Sunninghill.
Extract Bracknell Times 01/02/1979

 

Call to Extend Hospital

Binfield parish councillors plan to repeat their call for a major local hospital to be retained at Ascot.
Earlier this month the East Berkshire Community Health Council announced they would recommend the siting of a new hospital in Bracknell. Its es have now gone to the area health authority tor Farther debate. Councillors in the village firmly believed in the first of the five options open to discussion on an extension of Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital.
The parish council had feared a hospital in Bracknell could be almost as far away as Heatherwood, because there was insufficient land in the own centre.
A development could be as far out as Warfield. Coun Mrs Rosemary Willatts, who attended a meeting of all the interested groups organised by the community health council before Christmas said she felt there was an overall leaning towards option one.
Opinions
The meeting was designed to sound out local opinion upon which a decision would be based.
Mrs Willatts was not sure what had happened between that meeting and the surprise New Year announcement favour towards a Bracknell hospital
She said many parish councils and community groups had badly taken up the invitation in to express more opinions letter before December 18. Clerk to Winkfield Parish council, Mr Cyril Bates, said councillors there were also in favour of facilities at Heatherwood being extended.
He said the council had not yet discussed the issue further.
There will be a meeting in February at which recommendations by the community health council will come in for further discussion.
Extract Bracknell Times 01/02/1979

 

Plan to Demolish Hospital Condemned As Incredible Folly

A scheme to pull down Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital has been described as "an incredible piece of administrative folly."
"The community health council will shut down a well run hospital which serves an number of townships, pull it down and move it two or three miles down the road to Bracknell," Councillor John Cobring told members of Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council's health and housing committee.
"It is an incredible piece of administrative folly, especially as Bracknell has applied for boundary changes which will bring it within a few yards of Heatherwood."
The committee has been asked by Sunninghill Parish Council for its support in fighting the proposals put forward by the health council.
The parish council is afraid the 55-acre site at Heatherwood, always regarded as Green Belt, will be sold to finance the new hospital, and then developed.
Coun John Farrand said although he could see the health council's point he was opposed to losing Heatherwood.
"The big problem with the community health council proposal is the question of possible redevelopment of the Heatherwood site. There will be considerable regret if the piece of land was to go for housing"
Members heard the East Berks Area Health Authority felt the site chosen for the new hospital in Bracknell would not really help the majority of people in the town.
The health council has pinpointed Farley Hall, the present home of Bracknell Development Corporation as the site for the new hospital.
The area health authority feels that as Farley Hall is on the town's outskirts, putting a hospital there would make life no easier.
Health and housing members agreed to recommend the council support Sunninghill's efforts to fight the health council's proposal.
Extract Evening Post 01/02/1979 & Bracknell & Wokingham Times 08/02/1979

 

Heatherwood Standstill

Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital was brought to a standstill on Tuesday morning when 150 members of staff walked out as part of a two-hour strike in support of their national pay claim.
The strike the first held by the hospital's ancillary workers was called by Mr Jim Hooker, senior shop steward of the General and Municipal Workers Union.
And afterwards he warned: "There could be more strikes to come." A spokesman for the hospital, which serves Bracknell, Binfield, Ascot and parts of Wokingham, described the incident as: "The most disruptive action they could take without calling an all-out strike.
The strikers brought the place to a standstill between 8.30am and 10.30am.
"Most of the domestic and catering staff left their jobs and picketed outside the hospital.
We were given no advance warning. But fortunately patients didn't suffer the nursing staff filled in for the strikers.
We won't stand by and see the service completely disrupted."
Mr Hooker, deputy head porter at Heatherwood, said that members had been told they could take lightning strike action by the union's London head office.
But he claimed that no patients had been hurt as a result of the walk-out: "A lot of patients are behind us.
Many of them told my members not to worry about leaving the wards. They said they would look after themselves.
"I have been round myself and asked patients if they are suffering hardship. And they all say no."
The GMWU's 200 members at Heatherwood Hospital have refused to work overtime since the dispute began.
And they are not allowing the hospital to burn refuse on the site. All rubbish has to be placed in a hired bin and emptied daily by a private contractor.
In addition, some staff are refusing to wash up crockery so most patients are using cardboard plates and cups at mealtimes.
Pressure
Mr Hooker said the action was intended to put pressure on the District Management Committee.
"We want to make them dip into their pocket," he declared.
Talks are taking place between the two sides, but so far no agreement has been reached.
Extract Bracknell Times 15/02/1979

 

Please Do Not Close Hospital

I, Too, oppose the plan to close down Heatherwood Hospital at Ascot and I give Coun John Corbring my full support against any closure.
My reasons are simple. I was a patient in Heatherwood for one week in a ward pleasantly situated near woodlands.
The catering was excellent, the staff and doctors were helpful and friendly and I praise the nurses who can only be described as angels who did all in their powers to speed me well on the way to recovery.
My stay in Heatherwood was in 1972, but it is still a pleasant memory to me. So please-no closure of Heatherwood.
Anthony J. Bowden, 34 Broad Street, Wokingham.
Extract Bracknell Times 15/02/1979

 

NHS Staff Fears

Ascot's Heatherwood. Hospital could become seriously short of nurses if plans to build a private hospital only three miles away get the go ahead next month.
Concern began after Impi (Property Development) Ltd submitted plans to convert the Marie Louise Nursing Home in Bagshot Road, Sunninghill, into a full scale hospital with 152 pay beds.
The developers say the planned hospital, which includes an intensive care unit, operating theatre and X-ray rooms, will employ a medical administrator, ancillary staff and 106 nurses over half of them full time.
But the Department of Health and Social Security has called the plans "misleading". And the Berkshire Area Health Authority estimates the new hospital will need at least 60 nurses more than the figure quoted by Impi.
The fear among local health chiefs is that the planned hospital would steal nurses from the National Health Service by offering more attractive pay and conditions, so worsening present recruitment problems.
The Berkshire authority says its members oppose the scheme because they believe that the development of such a large private institution so close to Heatherwood could badly interfere with recruiting plans.
A spokesman at Heatherwood said: "We do have difficulty in recruiting nurses now.
The question is: are there enough staff in the area for both places?"
The future of the proposed scheme will be decided on Monday, February 19.
Extract Bracknell Times 15/02/1979

 

Row Brews Over Hospital

A plan to expand Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, is likely to spark a major row when the area health authority meets next Tuesday.
For the community health council in East Berkshire will voice strong opposition to the plan and call for the decision to be delayed a month.
The health council is calling for a new hospital to be opened at Bracknell, which would mean all or part of Heatherwood being closed.
This is supported by Bracknell District Council and Bracknell Development Corporation, but Sunninghill parish council has expressed alarm at any suggestion of closing Heatherwood.
And Berkshire health officials have recommended authority members to opt for concentrating services at Heatherwood, which would be cheaper than building a new hospital elsewhere.
Extract Evening Post 17/02/1979

 

Campaign top Hospital at Bracknell is Defeated

By Vicki Elcoate
Bracknell is not to get the major hospital residents have been campaigning for health bosses decided yesterday.
Instead, a community hospital will be built at Bracknell, and casualties will be taken to Heatherwood Hospital at Ascot, which is to be converted into a major emergency hospital, or to Wexham Park Hospital, Slough.
Members of East Berkshire Community Health Council and local councillors tried to delay the decision on the future of Heatherwood at yesterday's Berkshire Area Health Authority meeting They said there had been insufficient time for public consultations, but area administrator Mr Ian Islip said decision should be taken immediately.
The Regional Health Authority is drawing up its spending plan for next year and now the Heatherwood scheme can be included.
Health officials put forward five options for improving health services in East Berkshire over the next 20 years.
The area's Community Health Council, Bracknell District Council and Bracknell Development Corporation favoured building a new district general hospital at Bracknell to replace Heatherwood.
Cheaper
This would have meant selling Heatherwood for an estimated £2 million and starting afresh in Bracknell at estimated costs ranging from £12 million to £20 million.
But health authority member Dr John Blaxland, said it was quicker and cheaper to develop the Heatherwood site.
He said the authority had just invested £3 million on a new maternity unit at Heatherwood, which would be "thrown away" if the hospital was built at Bracknell.
He also said there were no suitable sites in Bracknell closer than one and a half miles from the town centre, and Heatherwood was only three miles from Bracknell with good road links.
Extract Evening Post 21/02/1979

 

Heatherwood May Get £12M Facelift

AHA opt for community hospital at Bracknell
Bracknell will probably get a community hospital by the 1980's in place of the suggested £25, million general hospital.
Instead, medical services will be concentrated at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital, which may get a £12.8 million facelift.
These were the recommendations of the Berkshire Area Health Authority which met on Tuesday.
They agreed that the plan for a major hospital in Bracknell should be abandoned in favour of extended services at Heatherwood.
The recommendations now go before the Regional Health Authority and the Department of Health for approval.
Campaign
The decision flies in the face of East Berkshire Community Health Council which campaigned vigorously for a district general hospital in Bracknell. The council last month proposed that the new hospital replace the existing Heatherwood Hospital, serving Bracknell, Ascot, Wokingham, Crowthorne and parts of Maidenhead.
But the Area Health Authority opted for the least change to major hospital centres in the area.
This would result in the further development of Heatherwood, increasing beds there from the present 280 to 350. The authority's plan means that Heatherwood will become the major hospital serving the areas around Bracknell, Wokingham, Crowthorne and Ascot, providing a specialist, acute service.
Bracknell's proposed new community hospital to be built on a site yet to be decided will serve the immediate area providing facilities for the transfer of acute cases to Heatherwood, for convalescence purposes and for straight forward illnesses. No emergencies will be dealt with by the hospital.
The proposal means that the authority will have cut the cost of new hospital services by half.
Intensification of medical services and extension of Heatherwood will cost an estimated £12.8 million as opposed to around £25 million for a brand new building at Bracknell.
There were mixed feelings among Health Authority members on Tuesday. suggested the plan be deferred for a month for further consultation, while others pressed for an immediate decision.
Easier
Dr John Blaxland urged that Heatherwood Hospital should be developed. He said it was on a good bus route and easily accessible to the catchment area it served.
He maintained it was easier to develop an existing hospital rather than creating a new establishment.
East Berkshire Community Health Council member Coun Geoffrey Havelock said that the authority were backing a major hospital for Bracknell because the projected increase in population over the next few years would make such an establishment vital.
He said that the authority would also have a £2 million bonus if they opted for the new hospital after selling the Heatherwood Hospital site. "It would be a case of buying cheaply and selling cheaply." he said.
He urged that more discussions take place before a decision was taken.
Dr P. I. Reed asked the authority to be "realistic". "The only way we are going to give a decent hospital service is to develop it on the existing site at Heatherwood," he said. "Perhaps we would prefer to have a new hospital in the centre of Bracknell but it is a pipe-dream."
There were fears that if the development of a major hospital at Bracknell went ahead piecemeal development would mean that, while building got underway, services would be spread between existing hospitals.
Now the plan must be considered by the Regional Health Authority which has the final say before the scheme is determined by the DHSS.
Miss Juliet Mattinson secretary to East Berkshire Community Health Council said yesterday that her members were "upset" about the Area Health Authority's decision to turn down a hospital for Bracknell.
She claimed that members of the authority had little time to consider in depth the proposals set down for the creation of the new hospital.
Hopping Mad
"The Community Health Council had pressed for a deferment for one month and we had expected to get it," she said.
"We have always played it fair with the Area Health Authority and we think they should do the same with us." "Members are hopping mad about the way a decision was rushed through on Tuesday."
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 22/02/1979

 

Decision on Hospitals Is Criticised by Watchdogs

By Tristan Davies
Berkshire Area Health Authority's decision to scrap proposals for a major emergency hospital in Bracknell has met with mixed reactions.
Health watchdogs have criticised the authority for "unseemly haste", and say no answer was given to their proposals.
The AHA decided on Monday to build a community hospital in Bracknell. Casualties will be taken to Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital, which is to be developed into a major emergency hospital.
Many people have been campaigning for a general hospital in the Bracknell area because of the growth of Wokingham and Bracknell.
East Berks Community Health Council has pledged to continue the fight at regional level.
Mr Norman Nicholson, chairman of the council, said he was very disappointed by the authority's decision. He thought the decision ignored the people of Wokingham, a designated growth area.
The council's proposals were only received by the authority last Friday, and Mrs Kitty Dancy of the Bracknell Development Corporation asked the authority to delay its decision for a month.
But the council's proposals for a new district general hospital in Bracknell were turned down. Mr Nicholson said he was very upset because no reasons were given for rejecting them.
Bracknell district councillor Bill Brown said he thought the authority had jumped the gun. He had proposed a site in Pinewood a major hospital some time ago, and still maintained that, geographically and with the estimated rise in population, it would be the best site.
Invested
He thought a month for the AHA to view the CHC's plan would be a good idea.
Mr Nicholson said he thought having a major hospital in the Bracknell area was "the proper solution for hospital services for the people in central Berkshire."
Mrs Dancy said she was pleased Bracknell would get a community hospital Authority member Mr John' Blaxland told the meeting £3 million had been invested in a new maternity unit Heatherwood, and would be thrown away if a general hospital was built in Bracknell and Heatherwood scrapped.
Mr Ian Islip, administrator for the AHA, said it was not the intention to ignore people in the Wokingham area and he thought the existing arrangements for Wokingham patients travelling to Reading were fine.
Extract Evening Post 22/02/1979

 

Bracknell 999 Men to go on Strike Tonight

Bracknell ambulancemen are to strike for 24 hours from midnight tonight giving no emergency cover to the area The men this week gave a 100 percent vote in favour of unofficial action called for by union leaders Mr Bob Bruce, branch secretary fer the National Union of Public Employees to which the majority of Berkshire's ambulance crews belong said the county was "split down the middle"
He said two major stations and one minor base would be on strike and there was a possibility of one other joining the dispute
Pickets
There are eight stations throughout Berkshire. Picket lines will be set up outside the Bracknell ambulance base and Mr Bruce varsed there could be trouble if volunteers attempted to cross into the station.
If volunteers are so worried about the service then this is the time for them to give up their well paid jobs and join the ambulance service," he said
But while ambulancemen plan industrial action NUPE members involved in the "dirty jobs" dispute which has affected hospitals, schools and council services throughout the area have voted to accept the Governments latest offer of 11 per cent.
About 200 Wokingham members net on Tuesday night and gave a unanimous vote in favour of acceptance.
Votes
  A similar result has come from Bracknell members. Their votes will now go to an executive meeting in Reading tomorrow after which industrial action in Berkshire could be over Members of Transport and General Workers Union involved in the "dirty jobs" dispute are being asked to accept the offer and the Confederation of Beth Service Employees is putting the offer to members with a recommendation. The General and Municipal Workers' Union is putting the deal at a number of conferences Hospital representatives from from the Southern region were meeting this week.
There are 200 GMWU members at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital, where over the past weeks laundry services have been disrupted and staffing levels among the porters have been restricted after 5pm.
Extract Bracknell Times 01/03/1979

 

Bracknell Praised as Site for Hospital

West Berkshire health councillors are calling for another look into the setting up of a major hospital at Bracknell.
County health chiefs have already decided against a general hospital in the town.
They have agreed to convert Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital into a major emergency hospital.
But some members of West Berkshire Community Health Council claimed that Bracknell was the best site at their meeting yesterday.
And they are asking for the matter to be re-opened.
Dr Gerry O'Gorman said one of the main considerations was whether a psychiatric unit was planned at Bracknell.
The council a public watchdog on health has called for the matter to be thrown open again and for more information to be provided before they reach a decision.
Extract Evening Post 01/03/1979

 

Attack on Hospital Plans

'High-handed' Decision Rapped
By Jackie Corbidge
The battle over whether Bracknell should have a major hospital or simply a small community hospital was stepped up this week.
Members of the East Berks Community Health Council have called for a rethink of Berkshire health chiefs' decision to turn Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, into the new district general hospital instead of building it in Bracknell.
The county area health authority decided instead to give Bracknell a small community hospital in place of the major hospital the community health council had been fighting for.
But at their meeting on Tuesday members of the CHC claimed the area authority had not had time to consider their plan properly.
And they called on the Regional Health Authority the next tier in health administration to give more time to the debate before anything is finally decided.
At the meeting Crowthorne councillor Bill Brown said he felt that a decision was cut and dried even before the AHA's meeting.
"The whole affair seems to be extremely high-handed," he said. "There does not appear to have been a democratic decision."
Coun Bill Wreglesworth said expansion at Heatherwood would result in a "piece-meal hotch potch." He said that Bracknell needed a purpose built district general hospital to cater for a growing population in the years to come.
"Bracknell is the largest area of population and the geographical centre of the southern area," he said. "In view of this I believe it is the right place for a hospital."
Prior
Mrs Jan Morrison said: "AHA members only received our submission and the comments of the district management team and the area team of officers on the Friday prior to their meeting on the Tuesday.
"We had, following our submission, asked for early publication of all views relevant to the forthcoming discussion by saying that the CHC did not feel that such a far-reaching issue could be adequately discussed when the views of the management teams would only be available for two working days before the AHA's meeting," she said.
And she added that CHC members felt that the question of a hospital for Bracknell was not dealt with properly by the area authority."
Several requests that the matter be deferred for a month for further consultation were ignored by the AHA, she said. Now the CHC will write to the Regional Health Authority Said chairman Mr N. Nicholson: "We do not necessarily want to see the AHA's decision reversed.
We just want a fair hearing."
Extract Bracknell Times 08/03/1979

 

Call for General Hospital

I felt I ought to express my surprise through your columns at Berkshire Area Health Authority's decision not to build a hospital in Bracknell.
I understand that Heatherwood is now to become the major hospital for the immediate area and that Bracknell is to get only a small x community hospital.
To me this seems ludicrous. Bracknell is a fast developing area and by the 1980's I'm certain its population will warrant a general hospital in the town.
It's all very well to say, as one member did, that Heatherwood is on a good bus route. But if, like me, you depend on public transport, which I find unreliable to say the least, then it's not so easy to get to and from the hospital if you have an appointment.
Listen
What Bracknell needs is a general hospital right on its doorstep and the Health Authority should listen to the people for a change instead of pigheadedly ignoring their views.
I am sure it wouldn't set them back that much financially if they gave the go ahead for such an establishment in the heart of Bracknell.
Thank heavens the East Berkshire Community Health Council is backing the people of Bracknell in their fight to get a hospital for the town.
Let's hope they can intervene and get this decision reversed. Bracknell will need a hospital in the years to come, so let's have it now before building prices go sky high.
I can see the community hospital being built and within a couple of years those health chiefs in their gilded cages suddenly coming to their senses and realising that the town needs a proper hospital and then having to fork out still more money to extend the buildings.
It is about time these elected men and women listened to the people they are meant to rep resent. I am certain there are many like myself who feel there is a great need for such a hospital in the New Town Mrs Moira Hope, Bullbrook, Bracknell.
Extract Bracknell Times 08/03/1979

 

Will Berks get Private Hospital

By Geoff Harwood
Plans for Berkshire's first major private hospital could be given the go-ahead on Monday.
The Government appointed Health Services Board is winding up its inquiry into the proposed Marie Louise Private Hospital at Sunninghill, and a decision is expected after the hearing.
But a London firm of developers is facing stiff opposition from health authorities in its bid to provide the 152 bed acute hospital.
Mr Ian Islip, Berkshire's area health administrator, said yesterday: "The opening of a hospital of that size would attract staff who would have been available to us to run our service at Heatherwood Hospital."
Health bosses are fighting against a serious shortage of staff and Ascot's Heatherwood is set to become a major emergency hospital.
Mr Islip said the opening of the private hospital could impair the authority's ability to run a service in the Bracknell and Ascot area.
Opposed
The new private hospital, which would be the base for a great deal of orthopaedic work, is planned by Impi Properties Development Ltd, of London's Edgware Road.
The scheme is being strongly opposed by Berkshire and Surrey Area Health Authorities, and they have the backing of regional health chiefs.
Even if the inquiry board gives its seal of approval, the plan to turn the old Marie Louise nursing home in Bagshot Road into a hospital may still need planning permission.
A spokesman for Windsor and Maidenhead's planning department said the scheme would need the planners' approval if it meant an intensification of the existing use.
Extract evening Post 09/03/1979

 

Demand for more talks on hospital

By Geraldine Brennan
The battle over future plans for hospital services in Bracknell has meant a heavy postbag for the Regional Health Authority.
Wokingham and Bracknell Trades Council have joined local authorities and the East Berkshire Community Health Council in writing to the RHA to ask for more discussion before the Berkshire Area Health Authority's decision to give Bracknell a small community hospital instead of a district hospital is made final.
Trades Council secretary Mr Tony Onyewu says that the council feels that the AHA's plans, which include turning Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital into a district hospital instead of building one in Bracknell, were "not properly explained."
"We want to know more about how the proposed community hospital is to fit in with the district hospitals outside Bracknell," he said.
"The two should be planned to work with each other for Bracknell's needs and if this is not planned we will want to know why.
"It is bad enough that we should not get a district hospital in Bracknell, but to build a community hospital which will not be backed up by the services at the district hospital would be a waste of money and no use to Bracknell at all.
"We want to hear more about the plans for this community hospital before we lose the chance to object to it," he said.
The Trades Council have also objected to the way the decision affecting hospital services in Bracknell was reached.
"We do not think it was democratic," said Mr Onyewu. "When they let us know what is happening to our hospital services we will let them hear what we think about it and I am sure there will be plenty of opposition," he said.
Extract Bracknell Times 15/03/1979

 

Backing For Hospital Rethink Call

THE fight for a new district hospital in Bracknell has been taken up by Sandhurst Town Council.
The council has joined the East Berks Community Health Council in calling for mere discussion on the decision to turn Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital into a district general hospital instead of building one in Bracknell.
Councillors agreed with the CHC's opinion that the case for a new hospital "had not had a fair hearing".
Councillor Mrs Kitty Darcy said: "There were only ten members of the area authority present when the decision was taken. It was the first item in the afternoon, and most people left after lunch."
Mrs Darcy, who is a member of the CHC and the area health authority that took the decision, added that even people not directly affected did not agree with the AHA's decision.
"At the area meeting a member from Slough said that we should not make Heatherwood the district hospital because it was too far from the most highly populated part of the area that it served," she said.
"The Mayor of Sandhurst, Councillor Des Belam, was shocked that the decision had "gone through on the nod". "I cannot understand how such an important decision can be taken like this," he said, "Apart from anything else there is a lot of money involved We should let the regional authority know that we are not happy with the decision and ask them to look into it."
The council has written to the Regional Health Authority! Wokingham and Bracknell's MP Mr Bill van Straubenzee and Bracknell District Council asking for more discussion before any action is taken to carry out the AHA's decision.
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 15/03/1979

 

Shot in Arm for Bracknell Hospital Plans

County Labour group leader Alan Furley has joined the campaign to get a district general hospital built in Bracknell.
The move comes after Berkshire Area Health Authority recently decided to scrap proposals for a major new hospital in the area.
Instead, they want to spend £12.8 million developing health services in the central and eastern parts of the county and a small proportion of that would be used to build a community hospital in Bracknell.
Coun Furley. prospective Labour parliamentary candidate for Bracknell and Wokingham said: "A hospital in Bracknell is essential to serve what will be the main centre of population in this area in the foreseeable future."
Community
East Berkshire Community Health Council put forward proposals for a new major hospital in the area and the scheme has received wide- spread support.
But the AHA threw out the plans last month when they suggested Bracknell should get a community hospital, and existing health services at Slough's Wexham Park and Ascot's Heatherwood hospitals should be developed.
The health council were annoyed as they felt the AHA did not give their plans adequate consideration, and they claim their case was not even answered.
After the AHA's announcement. Mr Norman Nicholson, chairman of the council, said the proposals ignored central Berkshire's growing population and left Wokingham out in the cold.
District
Coun Furley said: "I regret very much the fact that the AHA have turned down the idea, apparently without giving the subject sufficient consideration."
He hopes the Regional Health Authority would give the major general hospital plans the fullest and most careful consideration", when they discuss them as he felt "the great majority of local people" want a new district general hospital to be built in central Berkshire.
Coun Furley added: "The hospital must be easily accessible to patients, visitors and staff alike. This means that it must be fully served by public transport, and as close to the centre of population as possible.
Extract Evening Post 17/03/1979

 

Hospital Decision Right and Sensible

I Would like to reply to the Times reader who is upset that Bracknell is not to have its own hospital.
The decision of the Area Health Authority to extend and modernise Heatherwood on its present site is the only right and sensible decision that could have been made in these financially stricken times.
It is about time many Bracknell residents became content with their lot.
As a new town it has, quite rightly, practically every possible modern facility that any town could have including shops, sports and arts centres and health centres.
As a nurse at Heatherwood, I already see a very high percentage of patients who use the hospital as a convenient "doctor's surgery" despite the so called difficulty in reaching us and I shudder to think how our work load would increase if people didn't even have to get their cars out or catch a bus.
So come on Mrs Hope, be realistic and thankful that you will have a modern hospital in pleasant surroundings comparatively close to your home.
The journey is short from Bracknell, straightforward and easily accessible.
How many other residents in the United Kingdom have to travel only five miles to their nearest hospital?
Heatherwood Nurse, name and address supplied to Editor.
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 22/03/1979

 

Furley Joins The Battle Over New Hospital Plans

By Russell Jenkins
MR Alan Furley, prospective Labour Party candidate for Wokingham and Bracknell, has joined the cry for a major rethink on the Area Health Authority's bid to turn Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital into a district general hospital instead of building one in Bracknell.
Mr Furley said: "I regret very much the fact that the Area Health Authority have turned down the idea apparently without giving the subject sufficient consideration."
Mr Furley now joins East Berks Community Health Council. Wokingham and Bracknell Trades Council and Sandhurst Town Council in their fight to reopen discussion on the proposed district general hospital.
The issue now hinges on the action the regional health authority intend to take in response to a letter of protest they have received from the CHC.
Miss Juliet Matteson, secretary of the CHC, said: "We have written a letter protesting at the lack of consideration on the matter.
Complained
"We believe our case to be unanswerable," she added. The CHC have complained they did not receive sufficient notice before the AHA meeting last month. Nor was the matter fully discussed before the vote was taken, they say.
Mr Furley said: "The whole subject will now be discussed by the regional health authority and I trust the strong views of the CHC, backed as believe they are by the great majority of local people, will be given the fullest and most careful consideration.
"A hospital in Bracknell is essential to serve what will be the main centre of population in this area in the foreseeable future. The hospital must be easily accessible to patients, visitors and staff alike. This means it must be fully served by public transport and be as else to Bracknell as possible.
"I hope the regional health authority will listen to the local people of Bracknell and district and support us in our plea for our own hospital. And we need it soon," he added.
Facts
Mr Bill van Straubenzee, the Tory MP for Wokingham and Bracknell is more cautious. He said: "I am in favour of the concept of a district general hospital for Bracknell.
"But I don't start off with the idea that the decision makers are educationally subnormal nits. I like to find out the facts.
"So far I have had certain members of the CHC come to see me. And I have started certain inquiries with the AHA. I am waiting to see what the situation is first.
We need to go step by step."
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 22/03/1979

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

 

Mounting Objection to Hospital Plan

Berks health chiefs came under further heavy pressure this week to reverse their decision not to site a district general hospital in Bracknell.
District councillors voted to follow East Berks Community Health Council's lead in calling for the decision to be reconsidered.
And one councillor, a doctor, warned that Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital will end up in the 1990's as a "botched up" mess of old and new buildings.
Under the Berks Area Health Authority's recent ruling Heatherwood will be expanded into a district general hospital while Bracknell will get only a small community hospital.
A furious storm has blown up in East Berkshire, with the Community Health Council, Sandhurst Town Council, leading local politicians and now the district council all condemning the move.
Last night the district's environment committee voted to appeal to the Oxford Regional Health Authority to make the AHA reconsider its decision.
Warning
The attack on the AHA was led by Tory councillor Bill Wreglesworth, a member of the CHC. He echoed complaints from the health watchdog group that the AHA did not give the issue enough consideration and had brushed aside comments from other interested bodies.
He warned that the AHA's decision not to scrap old buildings at Heatherwood and start afresh on the same site will turn it into a "hotch potch" hospital.
And he added: "The amount of money that is going to be allocated to Heatherwood is going to be so small that we couldn't hope for a proper hospital to be built there."
Councillor Wreglesworth thought Bracknell was the only realistic site for a major new hospital and warned that health chiefs would face severe problems staffing Heatherwood if it was expanded to the degree proposed Fellow CHC member Councillor Bill Brown pointed out that Bracknell and Wokingham were likely to see a far greater population growth over the next few years than the Ascot and Sunningdale area.
He also thought building a district general hospital in Bracknell would relieve some of the pressure on Reading's two major hospitals
Committee chairman Dr Brian Gennery called the AHA's move a "shoddy decision based on ill thought out arguments."
Extract Evening Post 24/03/1979

 

CHC Bid for Time in Hospital Battle

Berkshire's community health representatives are still hoping for a second chance to air their views in the battle over hospital facilities for Ascot and Bracknell during the next two decades.
The Area Health Authority has recommended that Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital should be turned into a general hospital, equipped to deal with emergencies, and that Bracknell should have a new community hospital.
But the East Berks Community Health Council has attacked the way the decision was taken at a meeting five weeks ago. and members have written to the Regional Health Authority in Oxford asking for more time to be given to debate the various options.
The CHC would like to see a purpose built general hospital in Bracknell, as well as the smaller community hospital which Area Health chiefs have proposed.
Confirmation
And they say that the £1.05 million allocated to Heatherwood (not £12 million as previously suggested by local papers) is not enough to turn it into a district general hospital.
THE CHC's Secretary Miss Juliet Mattinson said this week: "We should like to see an extra £9 million spent on local hospitals during the next 20 years, over and above what the AHA has recommended.
"We now have confirmation that they do not intend to replace the old stock at Heatherwood. And the medical staff says the operating theatre complex ought to be replaced because it is out of date.
"The whole thing has not been properly discussed, and we will not accept it without further debate.
We still think our option is a very good one." Mr. John Blaxland, a surgeon at Heatherwood and member of the C.H.C., said: "Theatre facilities at Heatherwood are not adequate for the type of work we wish to do there, and plans are in hand to improve them in the short term."
The Community Health Council wrote to the Regional Health Authority more than two weeks ago, and they expect a reply within the next few days.
Local authorities and chambers of trade have also written to the R.H.A. complaining about the way the decision was "steamrollered" through the Area Health meeting.
Extract Bracknell Times 29/03/1979

 

More Support For Bracknell Hospital

By Linda Callaghan
THE row over what type of hospital should be built in Bracknell has blown up again this time at the district council.
Members of Bracknell council's environment committee decided to ask the Area Health Authority to re-think its decision and go for bust" by recommending a general hospital.
The Area Health Authority has recommended that Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot should be developed as a district general hospital and a smaller community hospital built at Bracknell.
Shoddy
Councillor Bill Wreglesworth, who suggested the Area Health Authority should think again, said they had not taken enough notice of the comments made by interested parties. "They may have looked at them but they certainly did not discuss them."
Committee chairman Dr Brian Gennery supported Coun Wreglesworth and said he felt it was a "shoddy decision" by the area health authority to recommend only a community hospital for Bracknell.
He pointed out that even if the town had to wait a little longer for a hospital, there was no reason why it should not "go for bust" and ask for a general hospital.
Councillor Mrs Dorothy Benwell, who also sits on the area health authority, said the authority had carefully considered all possibilities and felt that the population of Bracknell and the surrounding area would never reach the figure laid down as a catchment area for a general hospital.
Travel
She also said that if Bracknell had a community hospital, at least some people would be able to get treatment without having to travel too far and the community hospital could be built earlier.
Coun Fred Creech supported Coun Mrs Benwell and said: "I am prepared to go to Heatherwood, botched up or not." The committee finally resolved to ask the area health authority to reconsider its decision and urged that Regional Authority, which holds the purse strings, should be asked to build the hospital within 10 years.
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 29/03/1979

 

Agony of Birth Without Help

by Paul Smith
An expectant mother claims she was left alone to give birth to her baby at Frimley Park Hospital after a midwife denied the child was close to being born. The astonishing allegation has been made in a book entitled The Good Birth Guide, published yesterday.
The 475-page Fontana paperback was written by childbirth expert Sheila Kitzinger It is described as a "consumer's guide to maternity" and includes an A-Z listing of 300 maternity hospitals in England. Wales and Scotland.
It claims to contain an "in-depth" assessment of each hospital, with a star rating for the best, and reports the birth experiences of over 1,500 women.
Two other local maternity, hospitals also receive a mention Louise Margaret at Aldershot and Heatherwood Hospital at Ascot.
A patient at the Aldershot hospital said: "At no time was anything pressed on me that I did not want."
The Ascot hospital received a two-page spread in the guide but escaped serious criticism. Mothers spoke of the staff on the post-natal wards as "friendly" and "helpful" but added that they did not get much rest.
A complaint from two mothers at Ascot was that they were not allowed to have their babies beside them for the first few nights after the birth.
The Good Birth Guide is published by Fontana. price £1.95.
Extract Aldershot & Farnborough News 30/03/1979

 

Heatherwood Wins Praise in the Good Birth Guide

Friendly and helpful staff at Heatherwood's maternity wing are praised in a two-page spread in the newly published "Good Birth Guide."
But the Ascot hospital also incurs a little criticism in this paperback guide compiled mainly from mother's reports of their experiences in hospital.
Alone
Heatherwood fares well compared to other local hospitals. From one, a woman wrote that she was left to deliver her baby alone after the midwife told her the baby was nowhere near ready to be born.
But Heatherwood does not merit one of the stars reserved by editor Sheila Kitzinger for those where at least five women wrote of a completely happy experience.
Commenting on Heatherwood's entry, Senior Nursing Officer Miss Olive Miller said: "The entry is obviously only patients' assessments. All of these are very personal likes and dislikes."
Births at the hospital are described as "high technology processes" and some women found all the equipment reassuring but others felt they should have been consulted about foetal monitoring before their beds were festooned with equipment.
The childbirth and parent craft classes run at the hospital were described as very valuable.
Husbands are allowed to attend the birth and one woman, commenting on staff shortages, said her husband had been very useful and ended up by helping the midwife to set up trolleys. But partners were asked to wait outside for some procedures and some were kept waiting for a long time.
The Special Care Baby Unit and the contact allowed between mothers and their babies immediately after birth came in for special praise, but women sometimes complained they could not keep their healthy babies with them during the first few nights.
Other criticisms were directed at drugs which made mothers sleepy during labour, at the long general visiting hours which patients found tiring and at the ante-natal clinic, where expectant mothers faced long waits.
Miss Miller said: "One tries to modify to everyone's needs and to bend to individual mothers' needs.
"We have had consumer meetings with patients coming back, which were interesting." Staff at the hospital were asked if they wished to comment on their maternity service for the guide, but declined as they were not sure what the book entailed.
Mrs Christine Saunders, a new mother whose baby Emma was born at Heatherwood, told the Times: "I am very pleased and impressed with the hospital.
The staff could not have been more helpful. Although they are busy they have always been prepared to spend time with us.
The other mothers are all very happy, too."
The Good Birth Guide is published by Fontana at £1.95.
Extract Bracknell Times 05/04/1979

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo one of Heatherwood's happy mums, Mrs Christine Saunders, from Great Hollands Bracknell, with daughter Emma, eight days old.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photo here.

 

Lobby to push for hospital decision rethink

Berkshire's community health representatives are writing to the Regional Health Authority in a last ditch bid to get a district general hospital at Bracknell.
The RHA meets tomorrow to discuss plans for future hospital services in the county.
One of the main items on their agenda will be the Berkshire Area Health Authority's recommendation six weeks ago to reject plans for a major hospital in Bracknell.
Instead health chiefs opted for the further development of existing Heatherwood Hospital at Ascot.
This would mean ploughing £1.05 million into the hospital. But East Berkshire Community Health Council members, who would like to see a district general hospital at Bracknell instead of the community hospital proposed by the AHA were not satisfied that the options open for future development were discussed fully at last February's meeting of the AHA.
Abandon
They have complained that the decision to abandon the option for a major hospital in the heart of growing Bracknell was "steamrollered" through by their AHA colleagues and that not all sides of the argument were aired properly.
They have already prepared a letter stating their case which will be before RHA members tomorrow when they consider the proposal, but now they have decided to circulate to each member of the Authority extra information in a bid to get the matter discussed further and understood fully.
Local authorities and chambers of trade in the area have also backed the CHC and letters from these bodies will also be presented at tomorrows meeting at Oxford. Community Health Council members meeting at Maidenhead this week were pessimistic about winning their "battle" for a hospital in Bracknell.
Coun Bill Brown said that it appeared the RHA would accept the Area Health Authority's recommendation because it states in the agenda that there had been adequate consultation on all the options.
But chairman Coun N. Nicholson added that even if the council lost its fight at least members would be assured that all the facts had been presented and the matter had been given a fair hearing.
If tomorrow's decision opts for the extension of Heatherwood Hospital the CHC still has the right of appeal to the Department of Health and Social Security.
Extract Bracknell Times 05/04/1979

 

New Shock Move in Row Over Hospital's Future

A shock move by top health officials means that Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital may be expanded into a general hospital after all.
Oxford regional health chiefs have supported Berkshire Area Health Authority which wants Heatherwood expanded and a small community hospital built to serve Bracknell.
But the area health team has been severely criticised for not having proper talks with local organisations, which say the expansion of Heatherwood will mean a "hotchpotch of old and new buildings" and a waste of cash.
The regional team will tell a meeting tomorrow that in its opinion reasonable consultation has taken place and the proposals are reflected in the regional strategic plan.
The row began last month when the health chiefs came under heavy pressure to reverse their decision. District councillors voted to follow East Berks Community Health Council's lead in calling for the decision to be reconsidered.
Brushed
After the dispute blew up in East Berkshire, the community health council. Sandhurst Town Council and the district's environment committee voted to appeal to the regional authority to make the AHA reconsider its decision.
Tory councillor Bill Wreglesworth said the AHA had not thought enough and had brushed aside comments from other bodies.
He added: "The amount that is going to be allocated to Heatherwood is going to be so small that we couldn't hope to build a proper hospital there."
Approval may be given at tomorrow's meeting. but any decision has to be approved by the Department of Health.
Extract Evening Post 05/04/1979

 

Hope fades in Bracknell for new hospital

By Con Coughlin
Hopes of a new district hospital for Bracknell have been hit by the decision to concentrate resources on Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital.
Oxford regional health chiefs yesterday accepted a recommendation from the Berkshire Area Health Authority to concentrate health services at Heatherwood.
And they dismissed an objection from the East Berkshire Community Health Council that they did not have enough time to consider the proposals before the decision was made.
The council, supported by Bracknell and Sandhurst councillors, wanted the area authority to consider building a new district hospital in Bracknell, replacing the service provided by Heatherwood.
In a letter to the regional authority's chairman Mr Don Norton, the council complained they were only given two days to consider the proposals. The community council wrote that they "did not consider that such a far-reaching issue can be adequately discussed when the views of the management teams will only be available for two working days before the AHA's meeting."
Decision
But regional chiefs decided the council had sufficient time for consideration and agreed plans to develop Heatherwood into a major emergency hospital.
Mr John Rawlings said: The community health council is theoretically allowed to read material relating to a decision by the AHA, but it does not receive the material until the AHA has made its decision."
The Department of Health and Social Security has yet to approve the proposals which will mean adding a smaller medical unit to existing buildings at Heatherwood.
The area authority's decision not to build a district hospital at Bracknell caused a storm of local protest.
Mr Norman Nicholson, chairman of the council, said he was very disappointed by the authority's decision. He thought the decision ignored the people of Wokingham, a growth area.
He thought a hospital in Bracknell was the proper solution for hospital services for the people in central Berkshire.
Extract Evening Post 07/04/1979

 

Plan for Major New Town Hospital Rejected

Hopes for a major new hospital in Bracknell faded this week after regional health chiefs opted for a plan to expand Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot.
The Oxford Regional Health unity decided on Friday to back a recommendation to turn Heatherwood into the district general hospital for the area, build a community hospital in Bracknell.
Their decision backs the Berkshire Area Health Authority who made the recommendation but rejects the submission of the East Berkshire Community Health Council, who have been fighting for the major hospital in Bracknell. Members of the CHC claimed here had not been enough consultation over the plans and the area authority had not had enough time to consider scheme properly.
Replacing
The CHC was supported by Bracknell and Sandhurst councils who wanted the area authority to consider building district hospital in Bracknell completely replacing the service offered at Heatherwood.
AHA members decided to plough £1.05 million into improving facilities at the Hospital
In a letter to the regional authority chairman Mr Don Norton said the CHC complained that they and area members were given only two days to consider the hospital options.
The community council wrote that they "did not consider that such a far-reaching issue can be adequately discussed when the views of the management teams will only be available for two working days before the AHA's meeting."but regional chiefs decided the council had sufficient time for consideration and agreed in principle, plans to turn Heatherwood into a major hospital.
Mr Norman Nicholson, chairman of the CHC, said he was rally disappointed by the authority's decision and that he thought the proposal ignored the people of Wokingham a growth area.
Extract Bracknell Times 12/04/1979

 

Praise is Well Earned

Praise should be theirs indeed! How right to give front page praise to the Maternity Unit at Heatherwood Hospital in the Times (April 5).
Anyone who has been fortunate enough to have a baby delivered at the hospital should be so grateful to have had the opportunity of working with such a superb professionally aware and re-assuring team of people.
It is not often that you can place so much confidence in other people without reservation.
J. A. Snow, 100 Hillberry, Birch Hill, Bracknell.
Extract Bracknell Times 19/04/1979

 

Tabler's Aid for Youth

The spirit of International Year of the Child is to be the priority of Bracknell Round Table this year, says the group is new chairman, Mr Chris Gulliver.
Mr Gulliver announced his intention to focus the organisation's efforts on local youth when he was elected to the chairmanship at the annual meeting earlier this month.
Last year Bracknell Round Tabler's raised enough money to buy a cardiac recorder for Heatherwood Hospital and smaller sums were donated to helping elderly and youth. groups.
Mr Jim Webb was elected as vice-chairman and Mr Jeremy Davies as treasurer.
The new secretary for the group is Mr Tim Grahame.
Extract Bracknell Times 26/04/1979

 

Ascot Table Tops £2,700

MR Nigel Ruff, retiring chairman of Ascot Round Table, said that during his year of office over £2,700 was raised and donated to local charities, including £960 to Heatherwood Hospital.
Officers elected at the Table's annual meeting were: chairman Richard Audsley, vice-chairman David Lees; secretary Peter Gibbs; treasurer David Mear
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 26/04/1979

 

Give Hospital Priority Says Councils 'Think Tank'

By Terry Kerr
Top health officials have been urged to push plans for a community hospital in Bracknell to the top of their priority list. A special "think tank" of council bosses has called on the Oxford Regional Health Authority to realise the urgent need for the town getting its own hospital facilities. And their chairman, Bracknell town councillor Mrs Elizabeth Padley, called for as much pressure as possible to be exerted on the health chiefs to make them take action.
Forced
The call came from the vice-chairman of Bracknell Development Corporation, Mrs Kitty Dancy, at a meeting of the district liaison committee.
She wanted the RHA "to give special consideration to the urgency of a community hospital in Bracknell." Said Mrs Padley: "I think the more pressure we can place from various sources the better."
Most liaison committee members individually supported the original calls for Bracknell to get a full district general hospital, but have now been forced to accept the Berks Area Health Authority's decision, later confirmed by the RHA, to expand Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital while only building a community hospital in Bracknell.
Bracknell District Council, the East Berks Community Health Council and Sandhurst Town Council all complained about the AHA's decision, but their major objections were over-ruled.
Extract Evening Post 27/04/1979

 

'Parish Power' to back Hospital Call

By Geraldine Brennan
A call for "parish power" in the fight for a district hospital for Bracknell has come from a Sandhurst councillor.
Councillor Arthur Arnold told representatives from parish councils at the Bracknell District Council liaison committee last week that they should begin voicing their objections to the Berkshire Area Health Authority's decision not to build a new hospital in Bracknell more strongly.
"I wonder if all the parish councils have written to the Regional Health Authority and other bodies involved as Sandhurst have done," he said.
"We have made sure that MPs and the district council have heard our views.
If all the other parish councils within Bracknell district did the same perhaps we could inundate people with such a weight of paper that they would have to listen to us."
Hospital
He pointed out that Heatherwood Hospital, which the AHA wants to serve as Bracknell's district hospital, is "almost inaccessible" for people living in the west of the district. "People from Sandhurst, Crowthorne and Owlsmoor experience great difficulty in getting to Heatherwood," he said.
"At the moment people in Sandhurst may go to Frimley Park Hospital or Heatherwood.
They are at the mercy of their GPS in this matter.
"They may not be able to use Frimley Park for much longer because the expanding population in Hampshire and Surrey may mean that it is no longer available to patients from Berkshire.
Difficult
"Because we are still able to use both hospitals we cannot try to negotiate for better bus services for patients and visitors who might be going to Heatherwood in future.
It will be very difficult for people in Sandhurst if Heatherwood is the nearest hospital they can go to.
"I am sure that people in other outlying parishes must have the same problem. A general hospital in the centre of Bracknell district is the only answer."
Mrs Kitty Dancy, a member if the East Berkshire Community Health Council wants the council to press for a community hospital for Bracknell to expand the services offered by Heatherwood.
"I think that we should ask the RHA to give serious consideration to the urgent need for a community hospital in Bracknell," she said.
The committee is going to recommend this to the full council.
Extract Bracknell Times 03/05/1979

 

Maternity Wing? it's Pointless, Say Watchdog Group

A watchdog group is squaring up for a major fight with health officials over "pointless" plans for a new maternity wing at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital.
East Berks Community Health Council claims the proposed extension would mean little or no improvement to the area's over-stretched maternity services.
And its chairman, Mr Norman Nicholson, has warned that other services could be hit if cash is diverted to pay for the scheme.
Health officials say the new building will add an extra five maternity beds to East Berkshire's total but the CHC believes it will mean only three more.
Berkshire Area Health Authority has proposed adding the extension to the present 57-bed maternity ward at Heatherwood because of recent upturn in East Berkshire's birth rate.
The AHA says that when the new ten bed ward comes into use, it will reduce the number of beds in the new ward by five making a net gain of five beds.
But the CHC believes that consultants will insist on other beds coming out of a nursery unit, making a gain of only three.
"Spending £80,000 a year on this will mean they will have to take money from somewhere else and that usually means something like care for the elderly," said Mr Nicholson.
An AHA spokesman denied that the new unit would only mean a net gain of three beds and said Heatherwood would be able to cope with a larger number of patients if the extension was built.
Extract Evening Post 08/05/1979

 

Why New Hospital Plan Was Rejected

Fears for staffing levels. at nearby NHS hospitals lay behind the Health Services Board decision to refuse permission for a 152-bed private hospital in Sunninghill, it was announced last week.
The board felt the new hospital, at the Marie Louise Club, Sunninghill, would need around 200 nurses and their recruitment would have a considerable effect on NHS hospitals which already faced severe staffing difficulties.
In the newly published report on the March decision, board members say the proposed new hospital was within a few miles of three NHS hospitals, including Heatherwood, which together were. short of 128 nurses.
Difficulties
The report states: "It was clear to us that these three hospitals were suffering from severe staffing difficulties, which they were unlikely to be able to resolve in the short run." Berkshire and Surrey, where the hospitals were placed, were counties with more vacancies than qualified nurses to fill them.
The board considered undertakings by IMPI, the property company involved, that they would not employ nurses who had worked for the NHS in the area previously, but it was felt this would be impossible to enforce.
Extract Bracknell Times 10/05/1979

 

Pub Crawl Still Helping Hospital

Patients at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital are still reaping the rewards of a fund-raising pub crawl held by the Bracknell Lions Club almost a year ago.
Last week Lions' president Mr Tom Jones visited Ward 3 of the hospital to present consultant physician Dr Robin Scott with new equipment worth more than £300.
The new machine is a colorimeter, which can measure the sugar content of blood within two or three minutes, saving laboratory staff up to half an hour on each diagnosis.
Donation
It is the second donation from the Lions that Heatherwood has received this year.
A heart monitoring machine was presented several months ago and a foetal heart machine was presented last year.
"These things are not available through the National Health Service but make a great contribution to the hospital in terms of the time and effort they save," said Mr Jones.
"Heatherwood has always been one of our top priorities when we are fundraising and we organised the sponsored pub crawl last year with new equipment for them in mind.
Proceeds
"We will be having another pub crawl next month and some of the proceeds from that will go towards new equipment as well," he said.
The colorimeter had special significance for the Lions as it has been dedicated to their former president Mr Harry Webb who died in February.
Mr Webb's widow Lynne and daughter Stephanie were among the guests at the presentation.

Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 31/05/1979

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photoDR Robin Scott (far right) consultant physician at Heatherwood Hospital receives a colorimeter from Bracknell Lions' president Mr Tom Jones. Mrs Lynne Webb and Miss Stephanie Webb are on the left. Staff and patients from Ward 3 look on. Picture by Photus Limited, Bracknell.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photo here.

 

Psychiatric Unit Set up

A temporary psychiatric unit will be set up in Harmans Water, Bracknell, within the next few weeks.
Two houses in Cherbury Close, which are now used as a children's home, will be a base for a team of six to eight psychiatrists and nurses until October, when they will move to Heatherwood Hospital.
Extract Bracknell Times 14/06/1979

 

Good Food Man Leaves Hospital

Mr Atkinson, aged 65, is retiring after 10 years at Heatherwood. He says he has thoroughly enjoyed each and every one of them.
Mr Atkinson intends to play a lot more golf, but he does not mean to give up work altogether.
Since Heatherwood enjoyed rave write ups in last year's Egon Ronay hospital good food guide, he has been overwhelmed with job offers.
After Mr Atkinson left the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel, he became Banqueting Manager at the House of Commons.
He left the House because of the late nights a decision he has never regretted.
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 14/06/1979

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.The staff of Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital presented their catering manager, Mr Tony Atkinson (right) with a cocktail cabinet in the shape of a globe last week.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photo here.

 

Mental Patients to Get Better Care

Better care facilities are on the way for south east Berkshire's psychiatric patients.
The long-awaited opening of the £179,000 psychiatric day unit at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital should take place on November 5 almost three years to the day since the scheme was given the go-ahead.
Meanwhile, a special community care team is temporarily moving into bigger premises in Bracknell in a bid to improve the service.
In the past, south east Berks patients with minor mental problems and those recently discharged from hospital have been forced to travel to St Bernard's Hospital. Southall, for treatment.
But now it is hoped that psychiatric nurses and social workers based at the new Bracknell centre will be able to visit many local patients in their homes.
The care team, which will eventually form the nucleus of staff for the Heatherwood day unit, is at present working in cramped conditions at Bracknell's Great Hollands Health Centre.
All being well they should move into two converted council houses in Cherbury Close, Harmans Water.
A county council spokesman said yesterday: "That part of the county is, for the first time, going to have day care facilities
"It will prevent patients having to travel all the way to St Bernard's and also provide back-up care for people who have been mentally ill and are now recuperating.
It will mean they will not have to be cut off from their family so much."
Extract Evening Post 14/06/1979

 

Action Call to Beat Hospital Beds Crisis

By Cyndi Robinson
Urgent action to ease the drastic shortage of psychiatric beds in East Berkshire was backed by health chiefs yesterday.
Now Berkshire Area Health Authority must find over £140,000 to pay for the first stage of action this year.
And the total extra bill is expected to be over £250,000 by 1983/84
Berkshire was plunged into the crisis after a London health authority refused to accept anymore local psychiatric patients from this month.
Short-term
The first immediate step is to buy the use of 10 private beds, mainly for elderly patients, at a cost of £75,000 a year.
Salaries and travelling expenses for the dozen community, psychiatric nurses needed immediately will cost £72,000 a year.
Money is already available for short term measures, starting later this year. They include 20 day places at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital, 19 beds and 10 day places at Old Windsor Hospital and 40 day places at Upton Hospital, Slough. But the biggest problem will be finding staff and money to operate medium term measures which could start in 1979/80.
Over £363,000 must be available before giving the go ahead for converting a Wexham Park Hospital ward for acute cases with 21 beds, for increasing the number of day hospital places at Wexham Park from 50 to 76, and for structural work and upgrading Ward 5 at Upton Hospital for 19 beds.
Yesterday's meeting of Berkshire Area Health Authority also agreed officers should continue discussing long term measures.
Long term proposals include increasing staff accommodation at Heatherwood and Wexham Park hospitals costing £416,000.
Area medical officer Dr Peter Dixon said problems over staff recruitment would be eased if sufficient accommodation were available.
Extract Evening Post 20/06/1979

 

Crises as Hospitals Face £500,000 Deficit

By Mick Rowbottom
East Berkshire health services have reached crisis point with a £500,000 deficit expected by the end of the year, it was revealed yesterday.
The East Berkshire district of the Berkshire Area Health Authority has been told to find ways of wiping out the deficit and is to present a set of alternative packages in July.
Senior officials have hinted that the main casualty could well be the Canadian Red Cross Hospital in Taplow, which is not owned the Authority.
However, they would not be drawn on any specific measures when they gave a special Press conference yesterday.
The plan is to centralise treatment of acute cases in the district's two main centres on Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, and Wexham Park Hospital near Slough Dr Jeremy Cobb, district physician, said that East Berkshire had been subjected to a "hotchpotch" of different medical centres, because different areas had been too proud and determined to want to lose them. This had resulted in staff resources and maintenance costs being spread over wide area, with small hospitals in Windsor, Maidenhead and Farnham Park.
What the Authority wanted was to get things together in the two main centres and then develop community hospitals for back up care in the other areas.
Added
The deficit occurred because of essential spending on drugs, medical facilities and things associated directly with patient care. Also £100,000 had to be carried over from last year and another £50,000 added on for maternity units at Heatherwood.
Mr Douglas Page Thompson, district finance officer, said there was an annual budget of £21m and three quarters of this went on wages and salaries alone on nurses.
So what ever the cut backs were to be, they would have to come from whatever was left.
Dr Cobb said the authority only leased the Canadian Red Cross Hospital and thought it was one of the most likely areas in which to find cuts.
But he would not say where. However, he said the lease had only 10 years to run.
Things like the maintenance of grounds would take a low priority when the district management team was drawing up its strategy "There will be a number of packages which we have to put to the area health authority," said Dr Cobb. "We haven't quite agreed what they should be yet."
Acute
At the moment, the idea is to keep Heatherwood, Wexham Park and the King Edward VII Hospital at Windsor as the main centres for acute treatment King Edward acting as a subsidiary to the other two.
Dr Cobb did not think there would be a drop in standards of patient care, but the "frills" would be closely looked at to see what could be cut.
There is an average waiting list of 10,000 in the district-2.000 for plastic surgery alone.
But the numbers of operations had not decreased, even though the waiting list was gradually increasing
Dr Cobb also announced that casualty services at night at King Edward would be stopped from July 3. The Authority cannot get enough staff to man the casualty unit at night, because there are so few people using it.
Extract Bracknell Times 28/06/1979

  Diary July to December 1979