Heatherwood Hospital
July to December 1991

MP Backs Trust Bids

East Berkshire MP Andrew Mackay is backing a controversial bid by two key hospitals to become an NHS Trust.
Mr Mackay said Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot and Wexham Park in Slough were better run locally than by a "remote bureaucracy".
He said: "Trust status gives hospital managers the freedom to take decisions and implement measures that they think are appropriate to improve health care for their patients.
"There are plenty of management improvements possible within the NHS many of which have not been effectively applied in the past because management was too remote and centralised."
And he condemned as an "outright lie" any suggestion that the hospitals would be opting out of the NHS if they become a trust.
He said: "NHS trusts are an integral part of the NHS treating NHS patients for free with NHS staff."
He also welcomed cuts in hospital waiting lists, but admitted more action was needed to bring them down further. Andrew Mackay
Extract Evening Post 02/07/1991

 

Tories Bitter at Labour Stand on Hospital Trust

Trust status could be the long-term saviour of crucial services at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital, Bracknell Tories claim.
Leading Bracknell Tories have sprung to the defence of the application by Heatherwood to become part of a self-governing trust from next April.
And they have launched a bitter attack on Bracknell Labour Party, who have collected a 2,000 strong petition protesting against the plans.
Borough Tory leader Alan Ward said: "I do not think it is very responsible. "They are trying to increase fears needlessly. "It is quite possible that trust status will make it easier to defend Heatherwood Hospital from any closures or changes in status.
"They are trying to spread fear and alarm. I think it is disgraceful." He pledged the Tories' 100 per cent support of the application, which if backed by the Secretary of State, will make Heatherwood a trust hospital from next April.
East Berkshire MP Andrew MacKay also hit out at Labour Party tactics.
He said: "It is a straightforward lie when opposition politicians locally say that Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals application for Trust status is opting out of the National Health Service." The MP stressed that all hospitals adopting trust status would remain an integral part of the NHS.
He said: "Let us discuss the merits of the trust application openly and not resort to cheating the public by asking them to sign petitions based on a lie.
"I sometimes wonder if the Labour Party and health service unions are not more interested in more porters than patients."
But the Labour party reiterated their calls for a district poll to show the views of local people on the application for trust status.
Keith Dibble, prospective Parliamentary candidate for the Labour Party, said people should have the chance to express their fears about the future of the hospital.
And he called for more public consultation on the application for trust status, including a poll to show the views of local people.
Mr Dibble said he was in favour of a democratically elected health authority. He said: "There is no democratic control over the hospital.
"I am in favour of local control which should be accountable to patients."
Extract Bracknell Times 04/07/1991

 

Hospital Unit Combats Post-Natal Depression

East Berkshire mothers suffering from post-natal depression now get help at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital.
For the Mental Health Unit at the hospital is offering a home from home service to help mothers recover. Clients who stay at the unit are either profoundly depressed or severely mentally ill.
The unit encourages fathers to stay with their wives and children in a home-style accommodation, complete with TV lounge and kitchens. Last year the unit helped more than eight mums to cope with the pressures of motherhood.
Elaine Holloway, unit manager, said they have taken on mothers whose children have ranged from five days to 12 months old. She added: "Sometimes they come in within five days, very acutely ill. Sometimes it's three or four months later."
The unit can accommodate two families at a time for intense treatment homely in a open house atmosphere.
Alison Hill, ward manager, said priority is to provide a safe environment and to help mothers take over day-to-day care of the baby.
In most cases, the women are incapable of taking care of themselves let alone a child.
Miss Hill added: "The most important thing is people do get better after post-natal depression.
"The care for the family is in the fore front all the time and we encourage the father to take part and even to stay."
Mrs Holloway says most mothers suffer from post-natal depression when feeling low a few days after giving birth.
But she added: "It is quite different from actually having a post-natal illness.
"The term mental illness really frightens people but mental illness is treatable."
Extract Bracknell Times 04/07/1991

 

Unions Predict Financial Chaos If Hospital opts Out

IT would only need one bad year for the Heatherwood Wexham Park hospitals unit to face financial chaos if they opt out of health authority control, health unions predict.
A report, commissioned by the Joint Health Unions committee, claims the unit's business plan for self governing is unfit to run even a hotdog stand.
Heatherwood have dismissed the attack as 'unworthy of a response'. The report Reasons to be Fearful by John Lister of the self-styled London watchdog Health Emergency.
claims applications by three Berkshire health units for NHS trust status, including the Heatherwood/Wexham, lack good financial planning.
It claims the applications were vague and un-business like and would not be taken seriously by any high street bank.
Heatherwood/Wexham Park acute services business plan, the report states, could not 'run a hotdog stand let alone a multi-million pound organisation'.
The report also attacks the trust application by East Berkshire Mental Handicap Services, claiming that management appear to regard money from charity as a main source of income.
At Monday's meeting of the Joint Health Union, Mr Lister said it would need only one bad year for the units to be facing financial chaos.
But Heatherwood Hospital spokesman Stefan Cantore poured scorn on the report, calling it 'unworthy of a response'. He said: "It is quite clear we disagree with the Joint Health Unions committee.
"One point to make is we are not opting out of the NHS but are remaining an integral part."
Extract Bracknell Times 04/07/1991

 

Hospital Chief on Defensive Over Trust Bid

By Dawn Doherty
A hospital boss has hit back at a union attack on plans to turn Heatherwood and Wexham Park hospitals into an NHS trust.
The unions blasted applications by three health units in Berkshire to become self-governing, claiming they were lacking in financial planning.
But Stefan Cantore, director of patient services for the Heatherwood/Wexham Park hospitals unit, de- fended the application. And he refuted the unions' criticism over the financial viability of the proposed trust.
He said taking up the new powers would have key advantages for the two hospitals.
He said: "We believe the application is for patients' benefit and does have financial advantages for us which will help us make the most of the new internal market in health care."
The attack by the unions focussed on the hospitals' financial position under the new regime. But Mr Cantore insisted the hospitals would not be submitting an application if they thought their financial future was at risk. He said: "The Government has a fairly stringent assessment system.
"It will go through each application with a fine tooth-comb looking at all the issues and will only give approval if they felt we were financially viable."
In Berkshire, trust proposals have also been submitted by West Berkshire mental health unit and East Berkshire mental handicap services. They are among eight bids for self-governing status in the Oxford health region.
All the applications were examined in detail by the unions for their report, called Reasons to be Fearful.
If the applications are successful, the hospitals will become trusts in April 1992.
Extract Evening Post 08/07/1991

 

Watchdogs Call Over NHS Trusts

Patient watchdogs have called for assurances over plans to turn two East Berkshire hospitals into an NHS Trust.
The move follows a detailed study by East Berkshire Community Health Council into an application for self-governing status by Heatherwood at Ascot and Wexham Park at Slough.
In its official response to the proposals, most CHC members said they felt management of the hospitals as a Trust would be "more efficient".
Extract Evening Post 09/07/1991

 

Hospital Imposes Total Smoking Ban

Health bosses are introducing a blanket ban on smoking at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital from the beginning of August.
Patients and staff at the hospital will not even be allowed to light up in the grounds of the hospital.
But East Berkshire Health Authority have given ward sisters the discretion to temporarily lift the ban in special circumstances.
Spokesman Brian Mackness said: "The policy is being introduced sensitively, particularly with regard to the public.
"It contains provision for exceptions for patients and relatives in special circumstances."
The health authority has spent more than a year gearing up for the ban by running counselling courses for staff and informing prospective staff of the policy when they are interviewed.
Mr Mackness said: "Over the last 12 to 18 months we have been running courses for staff who are smokers and find it difficult to give up.
"It needs stressing from the staff point of view we are not saying they cannot smoke. We are saying they cannot smoke at work."
And he added: "There has been no detailed survey during the last 12 months of the number of staff who smoke in the health authority.
"But there have been a variety of views. Some expressed concern on the grounds they wanted to continue smoking and should be allowed the freedom to do what they wanted. "But more than an equal number expressed strong support for the policy.
"We feel we must take a lead. We are already out of line with other large employers who are ahead of us," he continued.
we 'Although recognise there are strong views about a blanket policy we believe we have majority support from staff and the majority of the public."
Upton Hospital in Slough is leading the way and has already introduced the ban, he said.
The health authority remain tight lipped about possible disciplinary action on staff who flout the ban. Mr Mackness said the health authority would consider what action to take when the situation arose.
And he stressed the policy would need to be introduced flexibly with the public.
Union bosses at the Ascot hospital are backing the policy but believe the health authority could be doing more to help staff give up smoking.
General and Municipal Boilermakers Union senior steward, John McDougall, said smokers need individual therapy to help them kick the habit.
Extract Bracknell Times 11/07/1991

 

Firemen's Charity Venture Attracts A Sting In The Tail

Firemen were stung into action last Tuesday when they uncovered a wasps' nest at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital.
The fire fighters had just started building a new garden area outside the hospital's children's ward when the swarm struck.
Unlucky fireman Ronnie Borham bravely bore the brunt of the attack and was stung twice on the arm.
And work was temporarily halted as Bracknell Pest Control were called into clear the nest.
But, once the all-clear was given, Ronnie and the rest of the team returned to work on the garden.
Sub-officer Dave Hedger said: "As soon as we started clearing we hit a wasp's nest and he got stung a couple of times."
Free of the stinging menace, the fire crews installed a new fence in the garden area outside the ward, planted shrubs and put up a picnic table and bench.
In addition, they created a ramp outside the ward which will allow youngsters to be wheeled out into the fresh air. Previously, youngsters with infectious diseases had been unable to sit outside the ward they needed to be kept in for isolation.
But, now the area is fenced off, they will be able to enjoy the warm summer afternoons.
The garden furniture and shrubs, worth £200, were generously provided by the Great Mills store at Skimped Hill, whilst the fencing was donated by Hall and Company, in Easthampstead Road, Bracknell.
The Royal Foresters Hotel also chipped in with a parasol for the picnic table. Fire crews at Bracknell's Downshire Way Station have already raised more than £5,600 for the Rainbow children's ward at the Ascot hospital in this the station's 25th anniversary.
Extract Bracknell Times 11/07/1991

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.
The image captioned:"Bracknell fire station's Blue Watch with garden furniture donated by Great Mills for Heatherwood Hospital's children's ward".
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photo here.

 

New President for Bracknell's Rotaract Club

Bracknell Rotaract has a new president-Jonathan Brindley.
Twenty-eight-year-old Jonathan took over the presidency from outgoing president Steve Dimond in a ceremony at Bracknell's Admiral Cunningham pub.
Jonathan, who works at Bentalls in Bracknell and lives at Southlake Crescent, Woodley, will now hold the office for a year.
The Rotaract of Bracknell was formed in 1978 and is allied to the Rotary Club, offering membership to men and women aged between 18 and 30.
Hospital
Currently the Rotaract of Bracknell has around 35 members and as well as organising social functions works hard for charity. Every year the club organises The Three Counties Cycle Ride. It is hoped that this year's ride, held in June, will have raised around £30,000 for the Macmillan cancer fund and Bracknell Red Cross.
At present the Rotaract is raising money for Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital.
Extract Bracknell Times 11/07/1991

 

In Health We Trust

Comment:- On the 11/07/1991 the Times newspaper ran a full page spread on the application by Heatherwood for Trust Status.
The Following are all articles expressing different points of view at the time.

Hospital Status Could Herald a New era — or Collapse of NHS

Health Special By Jim Stevens Controversy surrounds the Government's drive to introduce sweeping changes in the National Health Service through hospitals which are self-governing trusts.
The Tory government claims it is paving the way for a better health service, giving hospitals greater independence and making them more answerable to patients.
But the Labour Party and the union movement fear only the fittest will survive, leading to the closure of vital services, and the collapse of the NHS.
They argue that when hospitals become businesses, responsible for their own finances and competing in a commercial market or touting for patients, as some put it much of the principle of public service of the NHS will be lost.
So what benefits can the public expect from these changes, if any?.
In East Berkshire Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital and Wexham Park in Slough have applied to become a trust from next April. The mental handicap services in both East and West Berkshire have also lodged separate applications to Health Secretary William Waldegrave.
As yet the major hospitals in Reading, Battle and the Royal Berkshire, have held back, claiming there is too much work involved in launching an application.
spokesman for West Berkshire Health Authority said: "It does need a lot of effort and input to get together an application.
There are a lot of things to go into and it takes up terrific resources." In East Berkshire it is a different story.
Bosses at Heatherwood believe they will be able to solve problems much quicker as a trust.
With the power to make decisions at ward level they will be able to reduce the present bureaucratic time wasting which eats up valuable resources.
Decisions which once rested with the Oxford Regional and East Berkshire health authorities will now be made by the hospitals' trust board.
This will be made up of six members of the public and, five hospital officials, including the board's chief executive.
The trust board will run Heatherwood and Wexham Park hospitals, although it is ultimately responsible to the Department of Health.
A whole series of new powers will be available to the Heatherwood and Wexham Park unit if it becomes a trust.
These include:
The opportunity to sell off any of its land and buildings, valued at around £64 million, to raise money.
The chance to borrow money. The ability to reward individual performance through wage rises, rather than rely on a nationally imposed wage structure for its 2,500 staff.
Health bosses insist the sweeping health service reforms introduced in April have more far reaching consequences than the trust application.
Each hospital is now a provider of health services, entering the commercial market to sell its services to health authorities.
Currently 77 per cent of all the work carried out at Wexham Park and Heatherwood hospitals is on behalf of East Berkshire Health Authority.
The remaining 23 per cent is for six neighbouring health authorities and GPs who have chosen to manage their own budgets.
If they become a trust, Heatherwood and Wexham Park will have to compete, providing efficient services at good prices to persuade health authorities and GPS to continue to send them their patients.
If any health authority or GP believes they can get a better deal for patients by buying services at another hospital, they can make contracts elsewhere.
In theory East Berkshire Health Authority could abandon the Heatherwood and Wexham Park unit and place its annual contracts out of the district.
Without the crucial contracts the hospitals would inevitably have to slash hundreds of jobs.
The Health Secretary will decide the fate of the trust application after a consultation period which ends later this summer.
If all goes according to plan it will become a shadow trust at the beginning of October, six months prior to formally becoming a trust.

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Boss Nigel Looks Forward to Making Quick Decisions-
The Manager

Nigel Crisp has a clear and confident vision of what trust status will mean for Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital.
As the general manager of Heatherwood and Wexham Park he is determined to take the unit from strength to strength.
He believes Heatherwood can emerge from a period of uncertainty and regain lost ground.
His aim is to build up confidence by promoting a Heatherwood in the Community campaign, bringing back patients who might otherwise use The Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading or Frimley Park in Camberley.
Outlining the advantages of becoming a trust, he added: "Suppose we wanted to build a day surgery unit at Heatherwood we would have to get permission from the district and the region.
"The district has got to get the region on our side.
"But in the future if we have got a good case then we can make that sort of decision ourselves.
"The key is local decision making. We can make decisions within the hospital about how to develop services.
"Most importantly at Heatherwood we are determined to keep the same range of services and develop the hospital."
Mr Crisp is hoping to pioneer a more efficient service, which will cut waiting times and waiting lists. With speedy decisions being made at ward level money can be saved and spent on better health care.
Last year Mr Crisp faced criticism for the poor management of the budget at Heatherwood and Wexham Park.
More than 60 beds were closed and non-vital operations cancelled in order to claw back the overspend by the start of April.
Under trust status there will be no deadline to break even, as under the old system, Mr Crisp emphasised.
He said: "If we get into financial problems as a trust we will have more time to sort it out.
"Last year we had four months to solve the problem.
"We have just had our financial assessment and there is no reason to think we are going to do badly.
"I think we have got good hospitals but we have got to try and to them better."
Many fear the future of Heatherwood could be thrown into doubt if it failed to live up to the expectations of the health authority, as purchaser of services, leading to jobs being slashed.
But Mr Crisp denied there were any plans to close down the maternity unit or slash jobs.
"There have been more redundancies in non-trust hospitals.
"There is no reason we should be looking for redundancies next year," he said.

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Union Demands A Vote for Staff -
The Opposition

Union leaders at Heatherwood are firmly opposed to the application for trust status, fearing it could threaten the future of the hospital.
And they are calling on hospital bosses to show their hand and carry out a staff poll to determine the fate of the application.
Senior steward for the General and Municipal Boilermakers Union, John McDougall, said: "It is annoying that they allow the consultants to vote, who were split with one vote carrying the issue, but not the rest of the staff.
"Management are saying staff are supportive of trust status but many are very uncertain and have raised a lot of questions which have not been answered."
Mr McDougall claimed there was a general feeling amongst staff at Heatherwood that it was a second class, if not third class, partner of Wexham Park.
This attitude was born of the fear that the trust board could resurrect plans to concentrate crucial services at Wexham Park, as opposed to building up Heatherwood.
He said there was no apparent sign that hospital managers were shifting decision making down to ward level, as set out in the trust application.
Mr McDougall said the union remained opposed to the application because members say it will take the hospital away from NHS control.
While general manager Nigel Crisp says a trust hospital remains directly accountable to the NHS the union feels the hospital will become virtually independent.
The national wage structure will be abandoned in favour of a local scale based on the success of the hospital.
In addition the entire management of the hospital will rest in the hands of one body, the trust board, as opposed to the health authority.
This means the district and regional health authorities do not take part in the decision-making process. Their job is to pay Heatherwood and Wexham Park to provide a service for the community.
By cutting out the two bodies the union believe the hospital will be left virtually free to control its own business. Mr McDougall said: "We are opposed to a trust because we believe trust status is opting out of the health service."
The Labour Party remains also says it will take Heatherwood Hospital out of the NHS.
And it warns that patients could be forced to travel John McDougall-expressing union fears long distances if Heatherwood proves not to be a viable hospital.
In protest against the application members have collected a 2,000 strong petition and demanded a district poll to determine its fate.
Prospective Labour Parliamentary candidate Keith Dibble said: "We are opposed to any application for trust status because it is an opt out from the health service.
"There is no good reason why local people should benefit.
If the application was saying waiting lists would be reduced and new facilities be available it could be argued for."
He said the example of Westminster and Guy's hospitals, where hundreds of jobs were lost under trust status, did not bode well for the future.
Mr Dibble said the increased competition for patients between hospitals would make it harder for less viable units to survive. And following the recent uncertainty regarding services at Heatherwood it was clear the Ascot hospital was not in a good position to survive.

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East Berks Chief Will Keep Faith -
The Health Authority

Health bosses have no plans to abandon their faith in Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital when it comes to taking out contracts for crucial services.
And they believe trust status will give the hospital more freedom to improve the speed of service to patients.
It will be the job of East Berkshire Health Authority to ensure the hospital meets the highest standards of health care, and it gets the best return as purchaser of services.
As chairman Richard Eassie has a clear perspective of the application and how it will effect patients.
He believes staff will need to take more note of what patients want when they enter a hospital, whilst being aware of the financial cost of their own actions.
Because a hospital is fighting to retain crucial contracts it must take note of what patients want.
If a hospital fails to match up to the expectations of the health authority it is free to enter into contracts elsewhere, where they will get a better deal.
This could lead to people travelling long distances for medical care.
But in practice Mr Eassie does not see the health authority abandoning contracts with the Wexham Park and Heatherwood unit.
He said: "I have no reason to suppose Heatherwood is not running efficiently on its manpower.
I do not envisage any change. "It is evolution rather than revolution."
He added: "Those who produce excellence will be encouraged to do so more but those who do a bad job have got to pull their socks up.
"If a hospital persistently fails to deliver they will obviously have to change the service they are offering.
"I have every confidence in the unit. I think it will be successful."
Even though a trust board will be free to make its own decisions, free of the district and regional health authorities, he is anxious to stress it is not opting out of health care.
"Heatherwood will still be a hospital funded by the taxpayer and part of the NHS. If services are cut or anything goes seriously wrong it is still responsible to the NHS.
"The idea is not to break up the service but to make it more efficient and provide better value for money," he said. Mr Eassie said there were two driving, but contradictory, forces behind health provision around the country.
On the one hand hospitals needed to provide expensive and up-to-date equipment in all areas of health care, making it more efficient to have large concentrated hospital units.
This was among the arguments put forward by the health authority two years ago when they put forward proposals to close down maternity, paediatric and accident emergency services at Heatherwood and move them to Wexham Park.
Mr Eassie went onto say people were anxious to retain local hospitals they were familiar with, close to their homes.
He said: "These are contradictory things. We cannot have each to perfection."
Mr Eassie is quick to dispel what he sees as the myth of a golden era stretching back to the formation of the health service in the 1940's.
He said: "Somebody crippled by arthritis who could not get a hip replacement would not look upon it as a golden age.
"Every advance in medical science means people expect to benefit but they all cost money."

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Top Doctors Accept Move,but with Reservations -
The Consultants

East Berkshire consultants voted by just one vote in favour of the trust application earlier this year.
Many thought it would be wiser to delay the application by a year to give Heatherwood and Wexham Park more time to prepare.
But Dr Sunil Liyanage, a consultant Rheumatologist and director of medical staffing, said the majority feeling was that the hospital would be freer to make quick decisions as a trust.
What would normally take six months to agree through the district and regional health authority could be achieved in a month as trust, he said.
He believes decision making at ward level will enable the hospital to cut down on time-wasting bureaucracy, which uses up valuable money.
In theory this should reduce waiting lists and the time spent waiting for out-patient appointments, he said.
As a trust the hospital unit will also generate a stronger feeling of staff identity.
"There has been a problem with attitude the idea of them and us, he said. Some staff had felt they were not taken into account in the decision making process.
By shedding jobs through natural wastage during the last 12 months the hospital is in a stronger position to cope with becoming a trust, he said.

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Tories Back Plan With Conditions - The Council

Tory led Bracknell borough council has thrown its weight behind Heatherwood's plans to become part of a self governing trust.
But the council has laid down four crucial conditions to protect services at the Ascot hospital.
These are:
The full range of existing services will be maintained.
The services provided by the trust should be developed through local provision to meet the changing health needs of East Berkshire.
Heatherwood remains a district general hospital.
The Community Health Council must be consulted if major changes are proposed.
Council leader Alan Ward said the borough was 100 per cent behind the application, which he believes will give local people more control over the health service.
And he said: "I think that anything which raises the morale of the staff can only be good."
Another leading Tory, environment committee chairman Terry Mills, played down the possible impact on jobs at the hospital.
He said: "There has been a lot of emphasis on the fact that some people may lose their jobs.
This may or may not be the case but I am prepared to guarantee they will not be clinical jobs."
Coun Mills believes trust status will give clinical staff more control and reduce the influence of administrators.

Extract Ascot & Bracknell Times 11/07/1991

 

Comment:- The above feature was accompanied by a number of photos.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photos here.

 

Negligence Could Cost £2.5m

East Berkshire health bosses could have to shell out up to £2.5 million during the next two years in cases of medical negligence.
There are 12 claims against East Berkshire Health Authority which are likely to be settled in the next two years.
Most of these cases relate to Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital and Wexham Park in Slough.
Bosses have set aside £2,625,000 to cover the possible cost of the cases.
Spokesman Phil Jacques said during the financial year 1990-91 the health authority paid out more than £1.8 million in cases of alleged medical negligence.
"Very few of these cases go to court. Last year it was only two," he said. "We only go to court if we know we are going to win."
He said the health authority was likely to be over pessimistic when setting a figure for possible pay-outs.
During most years the authority receives between 25 and 30 claims, around one third of which it loses, Mr Jacques said.
Most cases of negligence arise from childbirth, followed by orthopaedics and casualty work.
Extract Bracknell Times 18/07/1991

 

Cracking Cocktail

Sunningdale youngsters earned themselves a place in the record books on Sunday when they produced the world's largest cocktail.
But before they could enjoy a drink the Charter School pupils faced the arduous task of mixing the 500-gallon tipple.
More than 570 litres each of Cranberry Classic, Just Juice orange, lemonade, and cranberry and apple, supplied free by RHM Foods, had to be poured into a giant vat.
On hand to verify the new world record were county council trading standards officer Chris Hawkins and the BBC Record Breakers team.
Roy Castle and former Bucks Fizz star Cheryl Baker spent the morning filming and took time out to enjoy a tasty snifter later on.
When the school fete kicked off at 2pm, punters were soon queuing up for a taste of the mammoth cocktail, named the Charters Cranberry Cooler.
The first and second year pupils at the school came up with the novel idea of breaking the world cocktail record, under the supervision of year head Keith Cattram.
The previous record stood at 462.9 litres. The proceeds from the sale of the cocktail will be split between Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital, the Leukaemia Research Fund and the school.
Extract Bracknell Times 18/07/1991

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by two photos.
The image captioned:"Cheryl Baker demands her cocktail from waited Roy Castle". The second captioned: "Splashing Out-Pupils mix the new drink".
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photos here.

 

Patients to have their say on NHS trusts

Patients can have their say on plans for East Berkshire health services to become NHS trusts.
Two meetings have been organised next week to discuss the proposals by Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals and East Berkshire Services for People with Mental Handicaps.
They will be held at Maidenhead Town Hall, at 7pm on Tuesday, and at the Guildhall, Windsor, at 7pm on Thursday.
The meetings, organised by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, will be chaired by Councillor Harry Parker.
He said: "I hope people will seize this opportunity to express their views on the future of their local health provision.
"If a large number of residents turn up to debate the issue, then we will be able to submit truly representative feedback into the consultation process."
Extract Evening Post 18/07/1991

 

NHS Contracts Cause Estimate Headaches

By Simon Miller
A lack of information on new NHS contracts is causing major problems for East Berkshire Health Authority.
Levels of treatment at Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot and Slough's Wexham Park has been subject to dramatic swings.
In most cases the health authority has either under or over estimated patient demand in the new fund allocation contracts for April/May this year.
Under the NHS reforms the district health authority now purchases services from units such as Heatherwood and Wexham Park based on patient requirements.
But in the first two months the lack of information technology at hospitals has meant the authority has not been given detailed results.
At Wexham and Heatherwood general surgery has been over estimated by 24 per cent, general medicine by seven per cent and obstetrics under estimated by 14 per cent.
At a meeting of the health authority yesterday members also expressed concern at payments made to units outside the district without detailed invoicing.
To date, the Royal Berkshire and Battle hospitals in Reading have claimed $260,000 and Frimley Park in Camberley $324,000.
Richard Easie, EBHA chairman, said: "These are units under contract to provide us services and we must check they are." Dr Jeremy Cobb, ENHA planning director, added: "It would be nice to say if you don't give us numbers we aren't going to give you money, but we can't.
"We have to make sure that payments relate to contracts." But the meeting heard East Berkshire was in a better position than most health authorities over contract billing details.
Health authority members were also told of a major programme to update information facilities at Wexham/ Heatherwood hospitals this year.
Extract Evening Post 19/07/1991

 

Warning Over NHS Trust Bids

By Simon Miller
Health services will suffer if two key hospitals in East Berkshire are granted Trust status, it has been claimed.
Keith Dibble, prospective Labour parliamentary candidate for East Berkshire, warned that profits made by one unit will be at the expense of another as there is no more NHS cash.
Mr Dibble predicts troubled times ahead if Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital and Slough's Wexham Park unit become self-governing He said: "Trusts are undemocratic. They are controlled by political appointees meeting behind closed doors.
"We cannot even be sure our hospitals will be winners as their past financial performance is worrying."
"There is no real evidence to suggest that Trust status would improve the quality or availability of services in the area."
This latest attack on East Berkshire health authority's acute unit Trust application comes as part of Labour's "The other side" campaign.
But Tory councillors in Bracknell have given their full support to the Trust bid saying it will mean improved medical services.
Terry Mills, Bracknell borough and county councillor, pointed to the long-running battle to save maternity services at Heatherwood Hospital from the axe. As as Trust a full range of existing services would be maintained.
Both Wexham and Heatherwood would develop to meet changing needs and continue to consult with community health council over any changes.
He added: "People will get better service and Trusts will remove layers of bureaucracy that have held the health service back.
East Berkshire constituency MP Andrew MacKay said: "The application makes a terrific amount of sense.
It is important for local people to be involved and it will be in the interests of patients. The East Berkshire's Labour Party is to present its views at a public meeting to be held tonight at Garth Hill School, Bracknell.
Extract Evening Post 23/07/1991

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.
The image captioned:"Labour Candidate Keith Dibble".
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photo here.

 

OAP's Voice Hospital Trust Fears

Angry pensioners fear plans to let Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital become a trust will hit them hard but benefit Yuppies.
The old folks attacked plans to let the hospital opt out of health authority control during a public meeting held by Bracknell Labour Party at Garth Hill School last Tuesday.
Jack Ealy, aged 65, from Manston Drive, Easthampstead, feared Heatherwood might close if it became a trust with Wexham Park hospital in Slough. "They will sell off Heatherwood's site to the Yuppies who go to Ascot races.
They can then the races on their doorstep," he fumed. And, instead of being rushed to Heatherwood for treatment, he said patients would have to be taken all the way to Slough.
He said this would be a journey that some people, particularly the elderly, might not survive.
And Ron Crew, aged 68, from Caves Farm Close in Sandhurst, added: "I'm mortally afraid that the people who will have to carry the can if Heatherwood becomes a trust will be people like me and my wife."
He said he had gone to a presentation made by 'men in snappy suits' about Frimley Park becoming a trust and he felt trusts would be managed like businesses rather than as health services.
The pensioners' fears were backed by Keith Dibble, Labour's prospective parliamentary candidate for East Berks.
He said trusts were for the benefit of health service managers. Trusts, Mr Dibble continued, would be in charge of their own resources but not accountable to local people. They might be tempted to sell off the Heatherwood site and concentrate services in Wexham Park to save money.
But other residents at the meeting disagreed. Terry Brazier, of Southwold, Bracknell, said the health service could be run more efficiently and needed to be reformed, but Heatherwood should still be kept open. Martin Wallace, a Conservative borough councillor, hit back at the meeting He said: "There is a lot of scare-mongering going on here, things in the health service evolve and must change."
Extract Bracknell Times 25/07/1991

 

Sell Benefits of Trust Status To The Public

Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot launched a new initiative on Friday to promote its application for trust status within the NHS.
Prominent members of East Berkshire Health Authority, including chairman Richard Eassie, were present at the launch where various departments at the hospital, such as the mental health department, explained their functions and plans for the future.
Opening the initiative, called Heatherwood in the Community, East Berkshire MP Andrew MacKay said: "The application makes a terrific amount of sense.
"It is important for local people to be involved and it will be in interests the patients.of "People will have far more control over their own destiny."
He added: "We have a very good campaign to sell, so let's go out and sell it."
Mr Mackay pointed out that another local hospital, Wexham Park, was also applying for trust status within the NHS.
He explained the roots of the initiative started with the recent campaign he supported to save the accident,and maternity paediatric units at Heatherwood hospital.
However Keith Dibble, the prospective Labour candidate for East Berkshire, said: "Friday was just a PR exercise.
"There is no proof that, under the trusts, waiting lists are going to fall or they will produce better services." Mr Dibble stressed that, rather than spend time and money on trust applications, the authorities should try to improve existing services within the existing NHS.
Extract Ascot & Bracknell Times 25/07/1991

 

Labour Fail to Stop Borough Supporting Hospital Trust

Labour councillors have slammed Heatherwood Hospital's trust application presentation as a shambles that Bracknell Forest Borough Council should be ashamed to back.
But their attack at last Thursday's full council meeting fell on deaf ears with Tory councillors rubber-stamping the council's support for the trust bid.
Labour councillors said the trust application presentation to the environment committee in June had been one-sided.
If successful the application, for Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital and Wexham Park in Slough, will mean that the two hospitals become a self governing NHS trust.
Labour councillors have been collecting petitions against the hospitals trust bid and, at last Thursday's meeting, tried to get the environment committee's support for trust status retracted.
Councillor John Tompkins said the document presented last month by the hospital unit's manager had been a total shambles and written for the sake of presenting something which just looked good.
He added; "This council should be ashamed to back such a move as this."
The meeting was told, however, that Bracknell's support for the trust plan was an attempt to ensure that Heatherwood Hospital remains open to serve the people of the borough.
Environment committee chairman, Councillor Terry Mills, said the hospital unit would maintain the full range of existing acute services, develop to meet changing needs and consult with the Community Health Council over any changes.
Services
"People will get better service, trusts will remove layers of bureaucracy that have held the health service back in the past," he insisted.
"Trusts are not about employing people, they are about providing medical care." Councillors voted overwhelmingly by 29 votes to six against referring the trust status debate back to committee.
Extract Bracknell Times 25/07/1991

 

Hospital Trust Meeting

A public meeting is being held in Winkfield on Wednesday, July 31, to discuss the application by Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital to become part of a self-governing trust.
Among the guest speakers at the North Ascot Community Centre in Fernbank Road will be Nigel Crisp, general manager of the Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals unit.
The meeting, organised by Winkfield Parish Council, starts at 8pm.
Extract Bracknell Times 25/07/1991

 

Move To Cut Queue for Opps

By Dawn Doherty
Oxford Regional Health Authority announced today by health chiefs. Funds will be used to develop day surgery facilities, cutting queues for treatment and the length of time patients are on the lists. Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot is to get £400,000 for a day surgery unit.
The 15-bed unit is expected to open by April next year and will speed up the number of patients being seen.
At the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading an extra $240,000 is being spent on gynaecology same-day operations. This will treat up to 300 more patients, again cutting waiting lists.
Battle Hospital, Reading, and Wexham Park in Slough will also each receive $25,000 to buy equipment for "keyhole" surgery.
The new technique, used for the removal of the gall bladder, cuts the patient's stay in hospital, reduces costs and allows more operations to be carried out.
Stefan Cantore, director of Patient services at Heatherwood Wexham Park, said the day unit, which will be linked to new operating theatres, will be good news for patients.
The cash has come from the region's "innovation fund" for projects which break new ground.
£1.5m boosts day surgery for patients Hundreds of extra Berkshire patients are to be whisked into hospital for same-day operations to slash waiting lists.
They will be among thousands across the region who I will be treated over the next two years using new techniques and more day surgery.
The move follows a £1.5 million cash injection by the Oxford Regional Health
Extract Evening Post 26/07/1991

 

Low Public Response to Trust Bid Plans

By Dawn Doherty Health reporter
Consultation exercises on plans by eight health units to become self-governing NHS Trusts are drawing to a close.
About 400 responses have so far been received to the proposals which have come under angry attack from unions-yet few come from the public. Three of the applications have been lodged by health units in Berkshire.
Wexham Park and Heatherwood hospitals unit, West Berkshire mental health unit, and East Berkshire services for mentally handicapped people want to take up the new powers. But despite criticism of the plans by unions, the response from the public to the move has been minimal.
More than half the comments have come from staff at the eight units in the Oxford region bidding to become trusts.
Others have come from people within the health professions, voluntary organisations, local councils, unions, and patient watchdog groups. However, Andrew Moss, spokesman for Oxford Regional Health Authority which is organising the consultation programme, said the number of comments from the general public had been "very small." He added: "We wrote extensively to local authorities, voluntary organisations and other people you would expect to be interested in the trust applications.
"The response is not as heavy as it was for the first and only trust application in the Oxford region last year.
We had 300 responses for the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre alone.' The deadline for comments on the East Berkshire applications to be received by the regional health authority is August 7 and the West Berkshire bid by August 10. A decision over the Trusts application will be made in the autumn.
Extract Evening Post 30/07/1991

 

£400,000 Windfall for Day Surgery Unit

By Jane Lee
Heatherwood Hospital is celebrating after winning £400,000 towards a day surgery unit which will help slash waiting lists.
The Ascot hospital had decided when reviewing its facilities that a day surgery unit was needed and had been looking at ways of paying for it from existing funds.
But, last week, the hospital's dreams came true when their bid for a share of a £1.5 million new initiatives fund from Oxford Regional Health Authority was accepted and it was announced the hospital had been awarded the £400,000 needed to build the unit.
Stefan Cantore, director of patient services at Heatherwood and Wexham Park hospitals, said: "It was quite a coup for us."
The day surgery unit would, he said, work with a new operating theatre being built at the Ascot hospital. This will help cut waiting lists and free hospital beds by increasing the number of patients dealt with by day surgery.
Although the day surgery unit won't be open before April or May 1992, the new operating theatre will open in September. The operating theatre is being built at Heatherwood as part of the plan to remove and redistribute surgery services previously at King Edward VIII Hospital at Windsor.
The two units together, said Mr Cantore, will make Heatherwood more efficient and will mean that routine surgery lists won't be affected by emergency operations.
The day surgery unit will be able to deal with up to 10 cases a day, ranging from minor surgery, such as oral surgery and minor orthopaedics, to medical investigations, such as explorations and biopsies. Running costs will have to be met by increased efficiencies and money from the East Berkshire District Health Authority.
Extract Bracknell Times 01/08/1991

 

Labour Fury After Mackay Attacks Hospital Trust Lie

By Jim stevens
East Berkshire MP Andrew MacKay has been accused of abusing democracy when he attacked Bracknell Labour Party in Parliament.
During a speech on the floor of the House of Commons two weeks ago, he accused East Berks Labour activists of asking people to sign a petition which said Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital was going private.
In his Commons attack, Mr MacKay said: "The Labour party is asking the public to sign a petition which states that Heatherwood hospital is going private.
"That is a straight forward lie and a con, and a debate would give the Hon Member for Livingston (shadow health spokesman Robin Cook) and others the opportunity to put right members of the Labour party all over the country and to tell them to stop lying to our constituents." But local Labour chiefs claim Mr MacKay has been fed incorrect information and stepped out of line with his speech.
Bracknell's prospective parliamentary Labour candidate Keith Dibble said the MP's comment was an abuse of democracy.
Wrong
He said: "He has got his research horribly wrong. The petition does not mention Heatherwood going private at all."
"He is misleading the Commons and his constituents." Mr Dibble said he hopes Mr MacKay would withdraw his remarks.
"He is over-reacting and panicking, which shows we are winning the argument," he added.
To date the Labour Party have collected a 2,500 signature petition objecting to Heatherwood's application to become part of a self-governing trust. Mr Dibble said the petition opposed: The introduction of market forces in the National Health Service with hospitals effectively competing to provide the best services for patients.
The loss of choice, with patients possibly having to travel further for hospital appointments and operations.
The loss of direct control over the hospital by the district health authority. This power will now shift to the trust board, which is ultimately responsible to health secretary William Waldegrave.
Mr Dibble said: "We are concerned that, if Heatherwood becomes a trust management, it will be able to increase beds for private use without consulting anyone. But we never said it was going to become a private hospital."
Challenge
Mr Dibble called for wider consultation with local people over the implications of trust status and challenged Mr MacKay to a public debate on the issue.
Extract Bracknell Times 01/08/1991

 

Little Public Interest in Hospital Trust Plans

The public response to Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals' plans to become self-governing trusts has been poor.
And the reaction to bids by the West Berkshire mental health unit and the East Berkshire services for the mentally handicapped has been the same.
As the consultation exercise on the plans draws to a close, Oxford Regional Health Authority have been collating the responses. Out of 143 replies to the four bids, only 58 have come from the general public.
The majority of the responses have come from staff, organisations, councils and unions. Regional Health Authority spokesman Andrew Moss said the number of comments from the general public had been very small'.
"We wrote extensively to local authorities, voluntary organisations and other people you would expect to be interested in the trust applications.
"The response is not as heavy as it was for the first and only trust application in the Oxford region last year.
We had 300 responses for the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre alone," he added. The deadline for comments on the East Berkshire applications to be received by the Regional Health Authority was August 7 and, for the West Berkshire bid, August 10.
A decision on the trust applications will be made in the autumn.
Extract Bracknell Times 08/08/1991

 

Bracknell Fire Fighters Appeal For Spare Foreign Currency

Bracknell firemen need your help.
They are appealing to anyone who has been to France, Belgium or Germany on holiday to hand over their spare foreign currency. The appeal comes as the station, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, prepares to send its crews into the streets for their charity collection.
This year sees the fire fighters collecting for the children's ward at Heatherwood Hospital and they will be out shaking tins on Saturday, August 10, in Bracknell town centre.
Crowd-puller
And, to help pull in the crowds they are taking a equipment with them, including a hydraulic platform and a rescue vehicle.
The foreign money is needed because a group of firemen are setting off on a sponsored cycle ride to Bracknell's twin town, Leverkusen Germany, on August 14.
in So anyone who has any French or Belgian Francs or German Deutschmarks would be helping the fire fighting cyclists to buy food as they travel through Europe on their charity venture.
Berkshire cycles, in Crowthorne, have already raised £500 for the trip and were due to present a cheque to the intrepid crew on Wednesday.
Extract Bracknell Times 08/08/1991

 

Hi-Tech Bed Will Aid Heatherwood's Mums

Heatherwood Hospital has been presented with a hi tech maternity bed by a voluntary organisation. The Women's Royal Voluntary Services gave the £2,350 bed to the labour ward of the Ascot hospital last Wednesday.
The new bed enables women to give birth using a greater number of positions.
Staff are currently refurbishing the maternity ward and intend to obtain six of the hi-tech beds.
Joan Bernard, midwifery manager, said the WRVS decided to donate the bed after learning that the ward was being refurbished. She said: "The WRVS have a canteen in the hospital and have donated the first bed.
"These new beds can be used by the mothers in labour and adapted to whatever position they want. "The old beds were fixed and were much narrower and they could not be put in the chair position. This is the advantage with the new beds."
Mrs Bernard said they were very pleased with gift.
Extract Bracknell Times 08/08/1991

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.
The image was captioned;"Elspeth Blanford(WRVS) presents the cheque to Joan Bernard"
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photo here.

 

Smoking Stubbed Out In Hospitals

By Dawn Doherty
Health chiefs are set to ban smoking from all East Berkshire hospitals from September 1.
The ban will affect Heatherwood Hospital at Ascot and Wexham Park Hospital at Slough and all health authority buildings in the district.
It will affect the 5,000 staff working in East Berkshire hospitals and community services, as well as visitors and patients. Brian Mackness, spokesman for East Berkshire Health Authority, said the ban had the backing of most employees. He said: "Some staff have expressed concern about the policy, but we believe the vast majority of staff strongly support it. "And as a health authority, we do feel we have to set an example to other major employers in the area.
In a bid to help staff who wanted to give up, quit-smoking courses were arranged and personal counselling was also offered.
However, special provision has been made for patients and visitors to smoke in "exceptional" circumstances after the September deadline.
Mr Mackness said: "The policy contains provisos that in very exceptional circumstances senior nursing staff can allow smoking by patients and visitors.
"That will be in circumstances where there is particular stress involved." Smoking is already restricted to certain areas of the district's hospitals. An estimated 15 per cent of beds in general hospitals across the country are filled by people with smoking related diseases.
An opinion survey published this month in Reader's Digest revealed 85 per cent of people wanted to receive their medical care in a smoke free zone.
Extract Evening Post 13/08/1991

 

Six of the best ride off

Six Berkshire fire fighters are pedalling to Germany. They were due to set off today on a sponsored cycle trip to mark Bracknell fire station's 25th anniversary.
The team, including Cliff McFadden, Roy Impey, Eddie Cardoso, Roy Taylor, Kevin Clarke and Steve Robinson-Day will be raising funds for the children's Rainbow Ward at Heatherwood Hospital.
On their return by bus on August 21, they will be bringing back 11 German colleagues.
The visitors will be taken sightseeing and will be introduced to senior officers in Reading.
Organiser Cliff McFadden said: "We set a target of $5,000 but we have raised nearly £7,000 already."
Extract Evening Post 14/08/1991

 

Firemen fight for children

Firemen took to the streets of Bracknell on Saturday to collect money for charity as part of their Silver Jubilee celebrations.
And to pull in the crowds they took along some of their equipment including a hydraulic lift and an old fire engine.
Welephant the character who travels the area helping to educate children about fire safety spent much of the day wandering around Charles Square in the town centre handing out leaflets. Throughout the day the fire fighters collected £812, which will be added to the £7,300 already raised.
The money is destined to go to the Heatherwood Hospital children's ward, to buy much-needed equipment.
As part of the celebratory fund-raising efforts firemen were due to leave Bracknell on Wednesday to cycle to Opladen, in Germany, on a sponsored cycle ride.
Fire fighter Dave Hedger was out collecting on Saturday and he said: "We collected more than we had hoped for and we are very pleased.
"With the recession and everything we would have liked to have collected more, but we feel that we have done well for the number of people who were around.
"We did also appeal for French and German money that people may have had left over from their holidays, to help with the sponsored bike ride, but we seem to have ended up with a lot of pesetas!" Firemen Nigel Dix, Mark Dowell, and Andy Giles, with boxes at the ready
Extract Bracknell Times 15/08/1991

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by two photos.
The first captioned:"Welephant helps with street collection",the seconds captioned:"Firemen Nigel Dix,Mark Dowell and Andy Giles with boxes at the ready".
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Fags Go Out At Heatherwood

Patients and staff at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital are now banned from lighting up anywhere on site. On August 1 the health authority imposed a blanket ban on smoking on all its land in East Berkshire.
Health bosses hope the ban will prove an excellent way of helping staff kick the habit whilst promoting a more health conscious attitude among patients and staff.
Health authority spokesman Phil Jacques said: "What we are trying to do fits in with the national initiative on smoking.
"We know it causes all sorts of illnesses and as a health authority we feel it is wrong for our staff to be seen smoking when we are trying to cure people of cancer and other conditions related to smoking." Mr Jacques said he hoped smokers working for the health authority would be encouraged to give up smoking by the ban.
Extract Bracknell Times 15/08/1991

 

Emergency Call to Aid Charity

Bracknell firemen have swopped their fire engines for bicycles to do a sponsored ride to Germany as part of their Silver Jubilee celebrations. The intrepid six set off from the Downshire Way fire station last Wednesday morning accompanied by three support staff in two vans.
They said they reckoned the journey would take six days but they are being allowed the luxury of returning by bus, accompanied by 11 German colleagues from their twin-town destination of Leverkusen
The international link is just one of a number of events the crews have organised to raise money for the Rainbow children's ward at Heatherwood Hospital.
On the way, they have been staying at fire stations in France and Belgium.
One of the organisers, temporary leading fireman Cliff McFadden, said: "We've been planning the trip for about nine months so we are all really looking forward to it.
We have been in training for some time. "We have been lucky with sponsorship and have had lots of support from the local community. Berkshire Cycles have donated a spare bike for the journey, spare parts and given us £500.
"It has taken a lot of planning but we hope to raise plenty of money for Heatherwood." The team were reluctant to reveal how far they reckoned they would be able to cycle each day because sponsors were being asked to guess the mileage door-to-door.
The station has already raised more than £8,000 so far, with plenty more events left to come.
The keen cyclists are Cliff McFadden, Roy Impey, Eddie Cardoso, Roy Taylor, Kevin Clarke and Steve Robinson-Day. Their support_team is Tom Floyd, Gerry Windett and Derek thorn.
Extract Bracknell Times 22/08/1991

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.
The image captioned:"The Team of fire fighters before their long trip".
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photo here.

 

"Scandal" Of Delays over Opps Theatres

Health watchdogs have attacked a "scandalous" six-month delay in providing operating theatres at a hospital.
Community Health Council members are now to protest to East Berkshire Health Authority because the theatres at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital are half-a-year behind schedule.
They were due to open after the closure of similar facilities at Windsor's King Edward VII hospital in February, but have been repeatedly delayed.
Group member Hugh Cohen told yesterday's meeting: "The situation is scandalous. It was due to be commissioned in February, then postponed till May and then they said it was certain to open in August.
"But when I attended the official handing over ceremony, the hospital refused to take charge of the theatres as the floors were uneven and the air conditioning wasn't right." Members heard there were "lumps" and "bumps" in the theatre floors.
Group members have criticised the lack of monitoring of theatre construction.
After the meeting, director of patient services Stefan Cantore said: "There have been some hitches in the level of the flooring, but that's not something that will cause major delays.
"We are looking for the opening of these theatres in the middle of this month. Emergency services have been maintained."
Extract Evening Post 04/09/1991

 

Crime Crackdown for Hospital Security

Hospital bosses are stepping up security in a bid to crack down on crime.
Staff at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital and Wexham Park Hospital in Slough are to play a major part in a new campaign called Hospital Watch. The scheme will feature: Identity cards for staff and induction courses in- creasing awareness of crime, Hospital Watch signs in strategic locations to warn would-be thieves, and; Handbooks written by hospital bosses alerting the public to crime.
The campaign will step up previous moves to lessen crime on the two sites.
Staff already have incident cards to report anything suspicious, but these will now be printed with a special Hospital Watch logo.
And security staff are used at Wexham Park, while the Ascot hospital is next to the local police station.
New staff are also automatically given talks on how to combat crime.
Steve Sellwood, support services manager, who gives the talks at Heatherwood and is co-author of the handbook, said: "It's a pro-active move on the part of the management. "Obviously we want our staff to be aware of crime. it is a problem within the hospital that we are all involved with.
"It used to be something that went on outside hospitals, but with human nature being what it is, it does go on within."
He added: "On the Heatherwood site, there have been opportunist thefts of purses and handbags, but the main problem is vandalism of cars.
"It's no good just reporting crime to the administration and expecting us to do something about it. "Together we will hopefully beat the would be criminal."
The hospital watch scheme will be formally launched on September 25.
Extract Evening Post 09/09/1991

 

"Scandalous" Hospital Delays Cause Backlog

Delays in the provision of vital new operating theatres at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, have been attacked as"scandalous".
Now members of health watchdog group-East Berkshire Community Health Council have hit out at delays which have left the theatres half a year behind schedule.
At a meeting last week CHC members heard that the theatres, due to replace facilities closed at Windsor's King Edward VII Hospital, were scheduled to have been handed over to Heatherwood Hospital in February, but had twice been delayed.
CHC member Hugh Cohen told the meeting last Tuesday that an assurance had be given that the new theatres would then open in August, but that at the officially hand over last month the hospital had refused to accept them.
He said: "When I attended the official handing over ceremony, the hospital refused to take charge of the theatres as the floors were uneven and the air conditioning wasn't right."
Members heard there were lumps and bumps in the theatre floor. After the meeting, director of patient services for Heatherwood Hospital, Stefan Cantore, admitted there had been hitches in the level of the flooring, but stressed this would not cause major delays.
He said: "We are looking for the opening of theatres in the middle of this month. "Emergency services have been maintained, as well as a fair level of waiting list work."
Extract Bracknell Times 12/09/1991

 

AA Celebrations

The aa shop in Bracknell celebrates its fourth birthday on Saturday (Sept 28) with a public awareness day on the theme of safety in the home, and a specially baked cake.
The shop in the town's High Street will hold open house all day, with the police and fire brigade.
The birthday cake will be presented to the Rainbow children's ward of Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot on October 5.
Bracknell fire brigade has been raising funds all year to buy equipment for Heatherwood patients, sponsored by AA Insurance and its customers.
Extract Bracknell Times 26/09/1991

 

Ops list to be Eased

Two new operating theatres at East Berkshire hospitals should help bosses tackle long waiting lists.
One, at Wexham Park Hospital, Slough, which serves much of East Berkshire, opened last month, and is used for plastic surgery.
The second, at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital, opens this weekend.
The theatre was scheduled to open more than six months ago. The scheme has cost more than £400,000 and increases the number of operating theatres at Heatherwood to five.
Extract Evening Post 03/10/1991

 

Veteran Celebrates Firemen Jubilee

By Shelley Rister
Veteran fire fighter Dick Harvey took a step down memory lane when he joined Bracknell Fire Brigade in their Silver Jubilee celebrations.
For it was on October 5 1966 that Bracknell firemen moved from the High Street station to Downshire Way where they are still based.
And to help mark the twenty-fifth year of the station, Dick and his wife Phylis, were asked to plant an almond and flower tree on Saturday morning in commemoration.
But the work of a fireman has changed since Dick's day he joined the brigade in 1935 particularly the equipment, which he describes as "more technical."
"The vehicles and the equipment are completely different but if I could go out with these lads now, I would!" the 75-year-old promised.
Dick, of Bay Road, joined the brigade as a part-time fireman and considered it to be his hobby. He spent most his time running his own dairy business.
He said: "I have lots of fond memories too many to relate. But I suppose the main thing I remember is the camaraderie. I really enjoyed my time in the brigade."
Dick was not the only one in Memory Lane, as present day firemen donned the garb of the 1960s and stood by a fire engine of the period, providing a contrasting crew to those in modern uniform lined up in front of a 1990s engine.
ADO Des Tidbury said the tree was to remember all those who had served as officers at Bracknell Fire Brigade.
He said that it was also to thank those who had helped the station raise £9,000 for Heatherwood Hospital.
Bracknell Forest Borough Mayor Edwin Thompson also attended the tree planting ceremony.
Extract Bracknell Times 10/10/1991

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.
The image captioned:"Veteran Celebrates Firemen Jubilee".
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photo here.

 

Bracknell

Shoppers in Bracknell have helped raise almost £700 in seven months for charity.
Sainsbury's has been running a scheme where customers who re-use plastic carrier bags receive 1p, the money then going to help charity.
At the Bracknell store, the money has boosted Assistance Dogs for Disabled People and the special care baby unit at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot.
Sainsbury's charity boxes across the country collect about £6,000 a week.
Extract Bracknell Times 10/10/1991

 

Op' Waiting Lists Will be Slashed

by Times reporter
More cuts are on the way at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot. But for once nobody is complaining.
For last weekend (Sunday, October 6) saw the hospital's new theatre come into operation.
Delays in opening the new Heatherwood facility have previously come under attack from patient watchdog group East Berkshire Community Health Council.
The theatre had been scheduled to open more than six months ago, but suffered a series of delays.
The new Heatherwood theatre, along with a new theatre at Slough's Wexham Park Hospital, replace operating facilities closed at the King Edward VII Hospital in Windsor.Heatherwood and Wexham form East Berkshire's acute unit.
The new Heatherwood theatre will bring the hospital's total to five, and will hopefully help cut waiting lists.
One way it will help do this is by allowing operations to continue when other theatres are closed for routine maintenance.
Eventually the new theatre will work in tandem with a new high dependency unit (intensive care) which is joined on to the theatre.
It is hoped that the new HDU will open shortly. Another move to cut waiting lists will come from a new day surgery unit at the hospital.
The £400,000 unit, which it is hoped will be up and running by next June, is being funded by East Berkshire Health Authority.
The day surgery unit will mean that patients will not tie up main theatres and will also not be delayed by emergency operations.
The new theatre at Wexham Park Hospital will be used for plastic surgery easing the strain on other facilities.
Extract Ascot & Bracknell Times 10/10/1991

 

Candlelight Vigil in Heatherwood Protest

Health supremo William Waldegrave was set to give Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital the go-ahead this week to become a self-governing trust.
The health secretary was expected to announce the latest round of hospital trusts yesterday(Wednesday).
Bosses at Heatherwood and Wexham Park in Slough were expecting their application to become a trust from next April to be approved.
But the decision is likely to be greeted with fury by members of East Berkshire Labour Party and the National Health Service Support Federation, who mounted a candlelight vigil outside the hospital on Monday night in protest at the "creeping privatisation" of the National Health Service.
Bracknell's prospective Labour Parliamentary candidate Keith Dibble was among more than 50 people who joined the vigil.
Referring to the hospital's application to become a trust, he said: "It is not a privatisation with a complete sell-off of services.
"It is the gradual dismantling of the service." Labour argues that when the hospital becomes responsible for its own finances and competes in a commercial market for patients, much of the principle of public service in the NHS will be lost.
But bosses at the hospital feel they will be able to solve problems much quicker as a trust.
Decisions which once rested with the Oxford Regional and East Berkshire health authorities will now be made by the hospitals' trust board. Heatherwood will also be free to sell off land and buildings, borrow money, and reward individual performance through wage rises.
Director of patient services, Stefan Cantore, said: "We are optimistic we will be given the go-ahead to become a trust.
"We have begun to make preparations to set up a shadow trust from the beginning of November. "There will be no visible impact on the service patients receive, even when we become a trust." Since the introduction of a 'Heatherwood in the Community' campaign in July, the hospital has boosted its image in the area, Mr Cantore said.
He said: "People realise we are not closing down or reducing service. This is good news as far as we are concerned."
East Berkshire MP Andrew MacKay said he was a strong supporter of the trust application, and slammed the tactics of the Labour Party.
He said: "Never in my years in politics have I seen a party shoot themselves in the foot as badly as Robin Cook and the socialists have with the lie in the media that under the Conservatives the national health service will be privatised.
"This will haunt Mr Cook and his colleagues in the months ahead and in the run up to the election. "If they can lie once what other lies are there in the Labour package?"
Attacking Labour politicians for joining the candlelight protest outside the hospital on Monday, he said: "I hope they are thoroughly ashamed of themselves. I had hoped the local Labour party would be more responsible. It is a sad day for Bracknell.
"I say that more in sorrow than anger."
Extract Bracknell Times 17/10/1991

 

Health Minister Rejects Trust Bid

Campaigners foil unit switch from the NHS
By Dawn Doherty and Bill Doult
Health Secretary William Waldegrave has turned down plans by West Berkshire's mental health unit to become an independent NHS trust.
The decision was today welcomed by critics who had led a campaign against the "opt out" application. But two other bids for self-governing status in Berkshire have been given the go-ahead.
Slough's Wexham Park, Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, and East Berkshire mental handicap services will become trusts from April next year.
The Government's decision was announced yesterday as the political storm over NHS trusts escalates.
Disappointed mental health unit general manager, Gareth Cruddace, said: "I can understand that they thought it was too big a risk to take, but I don't share that view.
"Although the workload would be heavy, the additional benefits would be worthwhile."
More than 3,000 people had signed a petition opposing the unit's plan. Tracey Lambert, regional officer for COHSE, welcomed the decision to reject the bid which she condemned as a "non-starter".
She claimed management had ignored staff in pursuing the plan a charge denied by Mr Cruddace.
Dave Jones, spokesman for West Berkshire joint trade union committee, added: "We are very pleased that at least mental health services will stay within the NHS."
Pete Ruhemann, Labour prospective parliamentary candidate for Reading West who spearheaded the opposition campaign, said: "In the short term it is a sort of reprieve and will, I am sure, be welcomed by local people who didn't in any way support the application."
Despite the decision, Mr Waldegrave said he believes the unit has potential for trust status and may reconsider at a later date.
Extract Evening Post 17/10/1991

 

Trusts to Benefit Patients

By Dawn Doherty
The creation of five new NHS trusts in the Thames Valley will bring important benefits for patients, health chiefs claim.
Bosses at the Oxford region welcomed Health Secretary William Waldegrave's decision to allow the opt-out bids. But they were disappointed West Berkshire mental health unit's application was turned down.
Dr Stuart Burgess, chairman of Oxford Regional Health Authority, said: "The RHA studied all the applications carefully and we felt they would lead to continued improvements in quality and efficiency.
"We are disappointed that two have been deferred and we hope that the units which were unsuccessful this time will apply again for 1993." In East Berkshire, a joint application by Heatherwood Hospital at Ascot and Wexham Park Hospital, Slough, was given the go-ahead to join the second wave of trusts.
Nigel Crisp, unit general manager, said: "Our aim as a unit is to provide a comprehensive range of services for local people. "As a self-governing trust we will have more control over our own management and finances and will therefore have a better opportunity to serve local people."
But the decision was attacked by health union COHSE which warned dozens of first wave trusts were already in "deep financial trouble".
A spokesman said: "This is a reckless gamble with patients' lives."
Extract Evening Post 21/10/1991

 

Wexham Tastes Sweet Success

Wexham Park Hospital, a key element in the provision of health services for people in given the go-ahead to become an NHS Trust next year.
While the spotlight lingered on neighbouring Wycombe Health Authority and its district-wide application, East Berks officials have been quietly putting together a application for Wexham Park which the Department of Health in the end found irresistible.
The hospital, which serves much of South Bucks, now joins with Heatherwood Hospital to form a single unit Trust, and, combined with the go ahead for the East Berks Trust for People with Learning Disabilities, represents a 100 per cent success rate for the health authority.
Chairman of East Berks Health Authority Richard Eassie described the move to NHS Trusts as a logical one, given the Government's division of the NHS into purchasers and providers earlier this year.
"Both units will be strong, viable Trusts in their own right and we look forward to a constructive business relationship with them," he said.
General manager of the Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals' Trust Nigel Crisp said: "Our aim is to provide as comprehensive a service as possible from our two hospital sites. "We must aim to be the first choice health care provider for patients and doctors."
Chairman of the new board of the East Berks Trust for People with Learning Disabilities, which also serves South Bucks, is district councillor for Iver Richard Worrall.
"I believe that Trust status is the best way forward to develop the unit's services and to promote a better understanding of the needs of this particular group," he said.
The success of both applications has been given a guarded welcome by East Berks Community Health Council.
"We won't have any statutory right to scrutinise their work in future but we have good working relations with managers and see no reason why that should not continue," said CHC manager Sue Hann.
Extract Advertiser 23/10/1991

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The image captioned:"Wexham Park Enters the 90's With Its Application For Trust Status Accepted".
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Heatherwood Aims to Reduce Waiting Time to One Year Minimum

Long-term waiting lists are continuing to fall at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, as it moves towards becoming part of a self governing trust.
Bosses at the Ascot hospital and at Wexham Park in Slough are aiming to have nobody waiting more than a year for a major operation.
Last week they were quick to welcome William Waldegrave's decision to allow the unit to become a trust from next April.
And immediately they outlined their commitment to cutting waiting lists.
Unit general manager Nigel Crisp hopes to be able to devote more energy to tackling waiting lists as a trust.
He said: "We should aim to have nobody waiting more than a year for a major operation and much shorter for anything else.
"But all urgent cases will continue to be admitted straight away."
number of patients This time last year the waiting more than a year was 2,500.
But this has now tumbled to 1,500 out of a total waiting list of 8000.
Mr Crisp is promising more surgery at Heatherwood and a greater all-round awareness at the hospital of what the patient wants.
He said there were no plans for any redundancies, adding: "I think it is the right decision.
Our finances are good and we are going to be expanding rather than contracting."
As a trust, decisions which once rested with the Oxford Regional and East Berkshire Health Authorities will now be made by the hospitals' trust board.
Heatherwood will be free to sell off land and buildings, borrow money , and reward performance through wage rises.
East Berkshire MP Andrew MacKay believes this can only benefit the hospital.
He said: "I am convinced that trust status will allow management and staff to plan local services more effectively, giving them powers and freedoms which they never had when answerable to the health authority.
Extract Ascot & Bracknell & Wokingham Times 24/10/1991

 

NHS Trust Posts

THE men and women who will head the second wave of NHS trusts have been announced by health minister Virginia Bottomley.
For the new East Berkshire NHS Trust for People with Learning Difficulties, Richard Worral is chairman.
Non-executive members are Graham Pedersen, Ron Probert, Simon Doyle, Bill Wreglesworth, plus one other.
The joint NHS trust for Ascot's Heatherwood and Slough's Wexham Park hospitals will be headed by Dr Brian Smith, as announced on Friday afternoon.
None executive members are Anne Ferguson, Graham Brown, Jan Morrison, Lydia Smith, and another yet to be appointed.
Extract Evening Post 04/11/1991

 

Health Trust Boss Gives Care Pledge to Patients

Dawn Doherty Health reporter
THE man who will head one of Berkshire's first NHS trusts says patients will reap the benefits of the hospitals' new status.
And he has given assurances about the financial stability of the joint trust of Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals.
Dr Brian Smith says he is confident the two key hospitals will not face the same problems as flagship trusts like Guy's in London, which were hit by staff and spending cuts.
Dr Smith, who worked for ICI for 30 years and was chairman of Metal Box in Reading, told of his hopes for the future under the new regime.
He was named on Friday as chairman of the new independent self-governing trust which will run the two hospitals.
But he had previously spent several months working with hospital bosses drawing up its application and proposals to Health Secretary William Waldegrave.
Dr Smith, who lives at Hurley and is chairman of the British Airports Authority, said trust status would aid "good local decision making".
He said: "People have a great belief that they are a good unit and they are always seeking to do better our job is to help them do that."
Dr Smith said one of the aims of the trust was to keep Heatherwood at Ascot as a "very strong viable" hospital for the people of the south of the district.
And he stressed he did not expect the trust to experience the difficulties other newly-created self-governing units had suffered.
He said the budgets of Heatherwood and Slough's Wexham Park Hospital were in "real balance". He said: "I don't think we would have been given trust status if people had not felt confident we could deliver."
Richard Worrall, chairman of the new East Berkshire Trust for People with Learning Difficulties, also spoke of how the new powers will help services.
He said: "I believe that trust status is the best way forward to develop the unit's service for people with learning disabilities and promote a better understanding of the special needs of these clients and their relatives."
Extract Evening Post 06/11/1991

 

Volunteers For Charity Cash

Shoppers bustled for bargains on Saturday at Bracknell Sports Centre to raise money for the town's Council for Voluntary Services.
Organisers say that this year there were more stalls than ever, with 33 different groups showing up to raise money for their respective causes.
Borough Mayor Edwin Thompson was on hand to formally open the proceedings, with last year's Mayor, Dick Cheney, hot on his tail to do a spot of bargain hunting himself.
Co-ordinator Anne Butler-Smith said: "Last year we raised about £1,600 in total, and this year we really are hoping to beat that.
All the money each stall raises goes to their particular group into their own funds every charity in Bracknell is a member of the Bracknell Council for Voluntary Services and each was invited to have a stall," she added. Among those represented was Heatherwood Hospital, with a stall aiming to raise awareness of their role in the community and answer questions about trust status and answer any questions.
Extract Bracknell Times 14/11/1991

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.
The image captioned:"Getting the message across that Heatherwood cares were community liaison manager Jackie Lawton, above left, and Vivienne Jones, right".
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Healthy Talk

Hospital staff will gather in Windsor on Saturday to hear how the future of health care in East Berkshire is shaping up.
About 150 staff from Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals will discuss patients' needs and new management techniques at the conference called 'The Way Forward'.
Extract Evening Post 29/11/1991

 

Surgery On Waiting Lists At Hospitals

By Dawn Doherty Health reporter
AN extra 300 people a month are being whisked into hospital for their operations. They are reaping the benefits of a fresh assault on waiting lists in East Berkshire.
At Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital and Wexham Park Hospital at Slough, the number of operations has been dramatically increased.
It has risen from an average of 1,602 operations a month earlier this year to 1,893 in October. But the target from November is 1,910 operations each month.
Hospital bosses launched their campaign in September by introducing additional surgery sessions using new operating theatres.
For patients, it should mean a shorter waiting time.
By April, there should be no patient who has queued more than two years for treatment.
Nigel Crisp, general manager of the two hospitals, said: "We hope this will give East Berkshire Health Authority and GP fundholders continued confidence in us so that they will carry on buying services from their local hospitals."
General surgery has increased by 20 per cent. More oral surgery, ear, nose and throat operations and plastic surgery have also been carried out.
Hospital staff took part in a special conference to help shape the future of health services in East Berkshire.
About 150 employees from Heatherwood and Wexham Park hospitals gathered for the meeting in Windsor. The hospitals, which treat 40,000 in-patients and 170,000 out-patients a year, are due to become an NHS trust from April.
Extract Evening Post 04/12/1991

 

Over The Top

Bracknell firefighter Roy Impey gets it all on film as a colleague goes over the top at 3M's 13 storey skyscraper headquarters.
The fearless firemen were raising money in a sponsored abseil on Saturday for the children's unit at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot.
Organiser Neil Whiteman, 25, said he enjoyed his first jump and was going back for a few more goes.
He may have felt safe in the knowledge that Army officers from Sandhurst were helping out and they were swinging on the same nylon ropes used by the SAS
Waitrose employee Dave Sheppard, 27, said he was taking part because of the children's ward charity.
He admitted he was "very, very, nervous". Intrepid Heatherwood nursery nurse Liz Warner and her friend Andy Gibor, both aged 23, said going over the edge for the first time was the worst bit.
Extract Bracknell Times 05/12/1991

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The image captioned:"Over The Top".
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Caring Joyce Leaves Babies The Gift of Life

By Dawn Doherty
TWO monitors which will help sick and premature babies were presented to the special care baby unit at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, today.
The machines, which sound an alarm if a baby stops breathing, were handed over at a special ceremony. The presentation was in memory of Joyce Monk, who died earlier this year.
Joyce, who worked at Keeler Ltd, Windsor, was a dedicated charity fundraiser and it was her greatest wish that money raised by the staff should go to the unit.
Anna Lubienska, regional development officer for the charity for the new-born, BLISS, said: "Joyce was an incredible lady and although she was far from well herself she wanted to give tiny babies the chance to live.
"I hope it will be of some comfort to her family and friends at Keelers that there can be no more fitting or enduring a memorial to her than the gift of a new life for a baby struggling for survival." The charity helped to co-ordinate the purchase of the monitors, called Apnoea Alarms.
About 200 sick and premature babies are cared for each year by the hospital's special care baby unit.
Extract Evening Post 10/12/1991

 

Walking Tall

Bracknell town centre got into the Christmas spirit on Saturday as they held a house warming party for Santa.
Clowns, stilt walkers, cartoon characters and superheroes joined a parade to escort Father Christmas to his grotto at Princess Square shopping centre.
And despite the chilly weather shoppers gave the procession a warm welcome as it passed through the town centre.
Princess square manager Michael Major said the parade was becoming quite a tradition each year when Father Christmas arrived.
Borough mayor Eddie Thompson and town mayor Daphne Clark travelled the route in style in a horse-drawn carriage.
The cast of South Hill Park's Christmas show The Gingerbread Man provided some entertainment on a float decorated by set designer Sue Lawson Dick. And the staff at Bentalls took the morning off from the Christmas rush to bring the circus to town. Fire brigade mascot elephant and his pals from Bracknell fire station, some dressed as clowns, brought a vintage fire engine as well as a more up-to-date model.
Proceeds from collections during the parade will go to the Bracknell fire station 25th anniversary appeal for the children's Rainbow ward at Heatherwood Hospital.
Fund-raising by firemen at the Downshire Way station has already topped £11,200.
Extract Bracknell Times 12/12/1991

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.
The image captioned:"What a Knees Up- A stilted Reception committee"
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Firms Back Heatherwood

Vital medical equipment has been donated to Heatherwood Hospital by generous companies. Firms, including Boehringer Ingelheim at Bracknell, have given a Dinamap protable monitoring system to Ward 10.
The system, worth £2,000, enables a patient to be monitored continuously. The hospital already has two similar pieces of equipment.
Heatherwood's Service Quality Manager, Margaret Manns, said: "It is a very useful piece of equipment."
On Thursday the Dinamap was presented to staff at the hospital.

Extract Bracknell Times 19/12/1991

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.
The image captioned:"Our picture shows Mervyn Jones of Jokyle Holdings Ltd, Ascot and Jane Watkins of Boehringer flanked by nurse Harinder Mahai and Sister Sandie Conlon".
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Heatherwood is on Course to Break Even

By Jim Stevens
Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital is on target to break even by the end of the year.
Bosses are confident the Heatherwood and Wexham Park unit will not overspend its £48 million contract to provide health care in East Berkshire. At the end of October the unit had received just over £28 million from the health authority.
And it was running at three per cent above contract for the year.
Director of public health Dr Jeremy Cobb put this down to a higher level of antenatal admissions, although the number of births is as expected.
He said: "If we take this out we are about on target, which is helpful in terms of the unit being the major supplier of health care.
"It means we do not have to cope with any undue variation and contrary to the previous year, where for financial reasons we have a very big swing in performance." This meant bosses were forced to close beds at Heatherwood and Wexham Park.
Dr Cobb said the health authority was currently negotiating its contacts for next year.
"The contracts have been referred in their draft form. Negotiations will be carried out between now and end of the financial year," he said. Since the start of April East Berkshire Health Authority has purchased services, in the form of contracts, from hospital units. Heatherwood and Wexham Park receive the biggest contract placed by the health authority.
From April the unit will become a self-governing trust.
Extract Ascot & Bracknell Times 24/12/1991