Heatherwood Hospital 1983

Day Unit For Old Folk is a Step Nearer

Bracknell and Ascot old folk are to get a geriatric day unit although no date has been set for the development.
A site has been designated for the unit at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot Mr Brian Mackness. deputy district administrator for East Berkshire District Health Authority says the unit would complement the geriatric facilities of Slough's Upton Hospital. Building of a similar unit at St Marks Hospital, Maidenhead has already started and is due to be finished in 1984.
He added that both developments reflected the growing number of old people in the district.
Growing
"It is part of our plan to meet the workload of growing numbers of old people in the area," he said.
Miss Juliet Mattinson. secretary of East Berkshire's Community Health Council said that at a meeting of the council earlier this week members suggested to the district that it might be better to include the geriatric day unit within the community hospital when it is built.
Mr Mackness said although a site had been found for the community hospital in the grounds of Old Bracknell House, no capital funds had been set aside for the venture in the regional health authority's capital programme which extends into the 1990s.
It meant the unit would be built sooner if based at Heatherwood.
The district, he said, had approached Help the Aged for advice and support in fund-raising for the unit. He said the starting date would depend on the pace of fund-raising Also planned for East Berkshire is a day surgery unit at the King Edward VII Hospital at Windsor.
The idea is in its early stages and Mr Mackness pointed out that no definite decision has yet been taken; although it is being seriously discussed.
He said: "Day surgery has been talked about in East Berkshire for several years but we have never been able to get the funds from the regional health authority." The possibility of putting the unit at Heatherwood Hospital had been investigated, but the district management team thinks it might be more economic to use the recently closed casualty unit at the King Edward VII Hospital.
He said: "The reality of the situation is that it is unlikely that we will get sufficient funds to build a new department at Heatherwood.
The Edward VII site might need some alteration but it will not cost as much as starting from scratch."
He added that the day surgery would deal with the more minor operations, and that with a waiting list in East Berkshire of 8,000 the discussions reflected concern, in particular about waiting lists for plastic surgery and ear nose and throat surgery.
Extract Evening Post 04/02/1983

 

Mum Sets Target for Son's Crash Appeal

A grieving mother has set a target of £2,000 for an appeal in memory of her dead son.
Barbara Street's 19 year old son David died after a motorcycle crash last December in Bracknell's London Road.
Mrs Street launched her appeal as a thank you to the doctors and nurses at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, who fought in vain to save her son's life.
And now Mrs Street, of Martins Lane. Bracknell knows how the cash is to be spent-on a heart monitoring machine and a special cubicle for the hospitals accident unit.
Flowers
She asked people attending David's funeral to give cash instead of flowers, and on the day he was buried she had £85 pressed into her hands.
The appeal total has since climbed to £320 and Mrs Street has now met staff at Heatherwood to decide how the money will be spent.
"I asked the staff in the accident and emergency unit what they wanted and they said there were three treatment cubicles which were very private for the patients.
but a fourth which was open to the public." she said.
"They wanted it to be made more private and they said that £2.000 would buy a heart monitoring machine as well."
The latest event to raise money for the appeal was a pub crawl starting from Ascot's Horse and Groom pub last night.
Anyone wishing to contribute to the appeal or help Mrs Street can contact her at 7 Martins Lane. Bracknell. telephone 54749.
Extract Evening Post 26/02/1983

 

Staff At Risk, Claim Unfounded

Patients and staff in hospitals treating Broadmoor patients are not at risk. say the East Berkshire Community Health Council.
These are the findings of an investigation set up after a Maidenhead councillor said there had been complaints from local hospitals where the top security prisoners are treated.
Members at last night's health council meeting in Heatherwood Hospital. Ascot, were told that Liberal councillor Kevin White's report was unfounded.
Chairman of the meeting Mr Brian Rockell said: "All sorts of reports were going round about prisoners walking up to receptionists at local hospitals where they were undergoing treatment and saying "I am a murderer."
"However, the reports have been thoroughly examined and we can find no evidence of such incidents occurring.
"There will always be cases when people at establishments and not just Broadmoor need to use facilities outside the prison or home.
It would surely be inhumane to deprive them of treatment. especially as we can find no problem."
Mr Frank Reynolds accused the Maidenhead councillor of only raising the subject of Broadmoor to attract publicity and he had succeeded. he said.
But Mr Rockell said the council had taken a responsible attitude by investigating the matter.
Extract Evening Post 02/03/1983

 

Charity Haircut For Shoppers

Bracknell shoppers can help to raise money for charity this Saturday by having their hair cut.
Staff at Bentalls in Bracknell town centre hope that instead of browsing around the store customers will take part in a shop floor "cutathlon" to raise money for new equipment at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital.
Seven hairdressers from the store will set to work putting shoppers hair into shape from 9am and continue for most of the day.
The cost of a cut will be a donation to charity with the proceeds going to a fund organised by Mrs Barbara Street, in memory of her 19 year old son David who died in a road accident in December.
Mrs Street. of Martin's Lane, Bracknell, has already raised £1,307 towards a £2,000 target for lifesaving heart equipment at Heatherwood.
Extract BEvening Post 08/04/1983

 

Old Folk Get £2m Boost

Old folk and mentally ill people in East Berkshire have received a boost of nearly £2million.
Oxford Regional Health Authority members agreed £1.8million should go to the district to fund developments for the mentally ill and elderly mentally infirm.
The cash is for 70 places at Slough's Wexham Park Hospital and a unit at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital.
It is part of this year's £31million capital programme which members approved on Friday.
Schemes due to start this year include a geriatric day unit at St Mark's hospital, Maidenhead, and a mentally handicapped community unit in West Berkshire.
More than £11million is to go to large projects in the region which are already in progress
Extract Bracknell Times 11/04/1983

 

Hospitals Fight Green Belt Plan

By Abbie Enock, Health Correspondent
Provision of hospital services in East Berkshire could be seriously delayed if the county sticks to its Green Belt plans, health officials are claiming.
Oxford Regional Health Authority is battling at a public inquiry to keep five hospitals free from Berkshire County Council's Green Belt restrictions.
Developments costing more than £26 million are planned for Slough's Wexham Park Hospital and Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital over the next three years. But unless the health authority is free to build accommodation for hospital staff, recruitment is likely to be restricted and services could be prevented from opening.
Oxford Regional Health Authority planning officer Anthony Leahy told the inquiry at Shire Hall pressure on East Berkshire services was likely to grow especially with the advent of Heseltown and hospital sites should be free from Green Belt development curbs.
But Berkshire County Council insists there is no case for changing Green Belt boundaries or relaxing policies.
Wexham Park, Heatherwood and Old Windsor hospitals fall within the proposed Green Belt, while Binfield Park Hospital and Clarefield Court at Pinkneys Green. Maidenhead, are close by.
Mr Leahy said the planned closure of Taplow's Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital and the transfer of psychiatric care previously provided at St Bernard's Hospital Southall, meant development at Wexham Park and Heatherwood.
Slough Borough Council has backed Oxford Regional Health Authority's bid to have Wexham Park Hospital excluded, from the Green Belt.
Berkshire County Council argues the health authority should take planning policies into account and look at sites which are free from Green Belt curbs.
Extract Bracknell Times 26/04/1983

 

Babies in Illness Riddle

Fifty mothers and children are in isolation at a Berkshire hospital following a mystery illness affecting new born babies.
The unit at Heatherwood Hospital, near Ascot, has been closed to new admissions since Tuesday.
Extract Evening Mail 12/05/1983

 

Mystery Illness Probed

Fifty mothers and children are in isolation at a Berkshire hospital following a mystery illness affecting new born babies, which has forced health officials to close a special baby unit.
The unit, at Heatherwood Hospital, near Ascot, has been closed to new admissions since Tuesday.
Hospital administrator Mr Ian Orger said staff were still trying to identify the infection, which has caused sickness and diarrhoea in children up to six months old.
Extract Burton Mail & Bristol Mail & Herald Express & Aberdeen Evening Express 12/05/1983

 

Mystery Bug Closes Baby Unit

By Shirley Pallot
A Berkshire hospital has closed its maternity wing after two new born babies were struck by a mystery virus.
Sixty mothers and babies are in isolation at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot and six babies are being kept under close supervision in a special care unit.
Only two of the babies are ill, with an unidentified form of gastroenteritis, but it is suspected that the four other infants in the special care unit may have caught the bug.
The outbreak was discovered when the babies showed symptoms of sickness and diarrhoea on Monday night.
Doctors sealed off the maternity wing on Tuesday to prevent the infection spreading
Stable
Tests have been carried out on all the babies in the unit and scientists have been called in from the general side of the hospital to investigate the cause.
Mr Ian Orger, hospital administrator said there has been no fresh outbreak in the last 24 hours and that the condition of the two sick babies is "satisfactory and stable".
Tests on the other babies in the hospital have all proved negative so far but doctors are still waiting for further results, he added.
All mothers to be and gynaecology admissions to the hospital are being transferred to the Canadian Red Cross Hospital at Taplow and the King Edward VII Hospital, Windsor.
Mothers who went home with their babies before the outbreak are being warned to keep a close eye on the infants and return to the hospital if they become ill.
He did not know when the maternity unit will reopen but said it is hoped that it will only be closed for a few days
The baby wing is separate from the rest of the hospital.
Mr Brian Mackness, deputy administrator of the East Berkshire Health Authority said today that pregnant mothers will not be allowed into Heatherwood until doctors and scientists identify the virus and find out how it got into the hospital.
Ten pregnant mothers were transferred from Heatherwood to have their babies in the Canadian Red Cross Hospital.
A vacant ward was reopened for the women who are being kept isolated from other patients.
Extract Evening Post 12/05/1983

 

Clue to Virus That Hit Babies

A mystery virus which closed a Berkshire hospital's maternity unit this week may have been identified.
Doctors and scientists at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, have carried out exhaustive tests in the baby unit in a bid to identify the bug which struck six new born infants.
A statement about the virus was expected from hospital administrator Mr Ian Orger later today.
Sixty mothers and babies were isolated at the hospital after two infants fell ill on Monday with a form of gastroenteritis and the maternity unit was rea led off to prevent the infection spreading Most of the mothers have now been allowed to take their babies home and only nine babies and one mother are still in isolation.
Extract Evening Post 14/05/1983

 

Babies Improving

The four babies suffering from a mystery virus in Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital are said to be coming along well. But doctors are still unable to identify the mystery virus, which closed the hospital's maternity wing more than two weeks ago.
Extract Evening Post 25/05/1983

 

Baby unit baffled over the mystery infection

Tests are still being carried out to trace the mystery infection which struck a number of newly born babies at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot.
The maternity unit at the Ascot hospital, which takes patients from the Crowthorne area, has been temporarily closed for tests and thorough cleansing.
By Tuesday morning four babies were still in the special baby care unit. Three babies were discharged over the weekend.
Fight
Mr. Ian Orger, the hospital's administrator, said: "We are relieved that things are going very well.
The whole unit is now closed and all the nursing mothers have gone home." Mr. Orger said the remaining babies had continued in a stable condition for some time, a very encouraging sign.
"We are now in an advanced stage of washing and painting some parts of the unit. Modern paints contain additives which fight and kill infections," he said.
And he added that he hoped the unit would be able to re-open in the "not too distant future."
Extract Aldershot News 27/05/1983

 

Mystery Virus

Two still ill
Only two of the six babies struck by a mystery virus remain in the special care unit of a Berkshire hospital.
Mr Gareth Cruddace, deputy administrator of Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital, said today that the babies "are both feeding very well and we hope to be able to discharge them by the end of the week."
Extract Evening Post 31/05/1983

 

Hospital homes plan

Proposals to expand staff accommodation at Ascot Heatherwood Hospital have run into opposition from Windsor and Maidenhead District Council planners The planners say that the proposed 24 family homes and 40 single units are not essential to the London Road hospital.
They also believe the plan conflicts with the Green Belt policy The application was made by the Oxford Regional Health Authority
Extract Evening Post 13/06/1983

 

Surprise Boost For Fund

Vital Monitor Donated after Mother's Appeal
by Alison Gray
A Berkshire mother who launched an appeal in memory of her son after he died in a road accident has had a surprise reward for her hard work.
Mrs Barbara Street, of Martins Lane, Bracknell, set a target of £2,000 to buy equipment for Heatherwood Hospital's accident and emergency department.
She wanted to say thankyou to the staff who fought in vain to save her 19 year old son David after he was rushed to the Ascot hospital following a motorcycle crash in December.
Fantastic
But with Mrs Street's appeal fund standing at £1,300 the British Heart Foundation came up with a cardiac monitor out of the blue. It was presented to the hospital on Monday.
Mrs Street said the foundation had made the "fantastic" gesture after hearing about her appeal, which was publicised in the Evening Post.
She said her fund-raising efforts had helped her to cope with the loss of David "Without this fund I don't think I would have coped so well with his death." she said.
"He was not just a son, he was a friend as well. The staff fought so very hard to save him."
She said she had already given her £1,500 to the hospital and was continuing to raise funds.
The British Heart Foundation's decision to give the equipment to the hospital had been a complete surprise."
After the presentation of the cardiac monitor, administrator Mr Ian Orger said: "It's a great tribute to Mrs Street that we have it so quickly, even though it is from the British Heart Foundation."
Best
He added: "It is one of the best examples of a life-saving machine."
Extract Evening Post 15/06/1983

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.
Mr Orger is pictured receiving the equipment with (from left): Mrs Dorothy Curtis of the foundation; Miss Sheila Christian. consultant at the accident and emergency department: Mrs Street: and Sister Valeira Stoute.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photos here.

 

Virus Scare Maternity Unit Reopens

The Berkshire maternity wing closed by a mystery bug has been given a clean bill of health and is thriving again.
One of the first patients at the reopened Heatherwood Hospital unit was a young Windsor mother who gave birth during a dramatic ambulance dash.
The 62 maternity beds are now full up again just days after the Ascot hospital threw its doors open to mums to be.
And those in two of the wards have got the added bonus of newly decorated surroundings. The hospital took the enforced closure of the unit as an opportunity for repainting
But the virus which closed the maternity wing over a month ago remains a mystery.
East Berkshire Health Authority deputy administrator Brian Mackness said: "It's water under the bridge now it's been given a clean bill of health.
"It's one of those viruses we don't know what precisely it was or where it came from."
Dash
Earlier this week Berkshire ambulancemen had to deliver a baby at Slough's Windsor slip road as the mother began to give birth during the dash to Heatherwood.
A Slough police spokesman said officers were called in to keep the traffic moving "It caused all sorts of cars to stop and watch." he said.
Hospital deputy administrator Gareth Cruddace confirmed the baby, weighing three kilos, was born in the ambulance. And mother and daughter were in a "very satisfactory condition."
Sixty mothers and babies were kept in isolation when six infants were taken ill on May 9 with a mystery form of gastro-enteritis causing sickness and diarrhoea.
The maternity unit was closed and baffled doctors tried to find the source of the virus.
The six infants were kept under observation in the special care baby unit.
But Mr Cruddace said the unit had filled up again virtually as soon as it was re-opened.
Extract Evening Post 20/06/1983

 

£25m plan for improvements to hospitals

Hospital developments worth £25 million are planned in East Berkshire over the next five years.
They include a unit at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital for mentally ill people and mentally infirm old people and a geriatric day unit at St Mark's Hospital in Maidenhead.
A unit for elderly mentally infirm people is also planned for St Marks and a health centre at Birch Hill in Bracknell.
The biggest developments are already in progress at Slough's huge Wexham Park Hospital. They include an 82-bed maternity unit which also has 28 gynaecology beds, out-patient services and a special care baby unit.
The maternity unit will replace the smaller unit at Taplow's Canadian Red Cross Hospital.
Also being built at Wexham Park is a paediatric unit, a nurse education centre and a unit for mentally ill people and mentally infirm old people.
East Berkshire Health Authority chairman Dr Don McWilliams said yesterday: "The capital costs are huge £25 million will have been spent on new capital development within the next five years.
"There's a tremendous investment in East Berkshire." But the future of planned staff accommodation at Wexham Park and Heatherwood hospitals remains uncertain.
So far there is no planning permission for the Ascot staff homes.
Extract Evening Post 22/09/1983

 

Mums aid hospital baby unit

A group of Ascot mothers have held a bazaar to raise money for Heatherwood Hospital's £30,000 appeal for the special care baby unit.
The hospital recently launched the appeal to carry out major structural alterations at the unit and to buy life-saving modern technology equipment.
The 10-strong committee of mothers and nursing staff, set up to help the appeal, was hoping to raise about £700 at the bazaar held in the hospital grounds on Saturday.
Christmas gifts galore were on sale at the bazaar including plants, books and baby clothes together with a tempting range of home made foods.
Ascot Ladies' Circle and the local branch of the National Child Birth Trust joined in by running gift and cake stalls.
Mrs Angela Orton, one of the mothers on the organising committee, said an enormous amount of hard work had gone into the bazaar considering they had got together to help the appeal two months ago.
Extract Bracknell Times 14/11/1983