Heatherwood Hospital 1995

Hospital Friends Work On

Supporters of a popular South Bucks hospital are continuing to help patients,six months after it closed.
Nearly £27,000 from the funds of the accounts of the former Iver Cottage Hospital has been donated to Wexham Park Hospital.
The money has bought equipment including a ventilator and a blood analysis machine for the Wexham intensive therapy unit.
Eddie Goode of the Cottage Hospital League of Friends hopes the donation will help former Iver patients now treated at Wexham.
She said: "The one stipulation was that it should be used for equipment, so that it could be identified as coming from Iver.
"The cottage hospital was built in 1936. It was set up by people in Iver who collected the money for it."
The Iver hospital closed after a two-year campaign to save it.
There are close connections between the two hospitals with nurses moving from Iver, when it shut, to Wexham Park.
Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospital's League of Friends chairman Dr Brian Smith said: "We are very grateful indeed to Iver Hospital's League of Friends.
"We know how much hard work is required to raise money these days and this generous donation represents great efforts from all involved.
"Our gratitude of course extends to our own League of Friends here at Wexham Park, who have worked with us, and also to the people from Iver hospital who have presented us with these gifts."
Extract Advertiser News & Advertising 04/01/1995

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.
The photo Captioned:"Staff nurse Heather Perera operates equipment donated to Wexham Park Hospital by Friends of Iver Cottage Hospital".
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photo here.

 

Hospital Plan Backed

Plans to save money by cutting services at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, look set to win the backing of Sandhurst Town Council.
But the council will register its concerns about the effects that the transfer of major services to Wexham Park Hospital, Slough, could have on Sandhurst people.
The town council is particularly worried that townsfolk could lose out all round because of the proposed changes at Heatherwood and the expected closure of the Cambridge Military Hospital at Aldershot which will increase pressure on services at Frimley Park Hospital the easiest for Sandhurst people to reach.
It has already expressed concern that medical services in the town will not be stepped up in time to offset the loss caused by the closure of hospital facilities even though health authorities and doctors admit that more services can and should be provided at local health centres.
But the town council seems to accept the logic of what the Heatherwood and Wexham Park NHS Trust says it is trying to achieve for all patients in East Berkshire.
Frank Harsent, Heatherwood's director of clinical services, told councillors last week that although Heatherwood still had an accident and emergency department, it had not dealt with trauma cases for three years because it did not have modern facilities like those at Wexham Park
Extract Ascot & Bracknell & Wokingham Times 12/01/1995

 

Housewife Upset Over Hospital Cuts circular

The controversial questionnaire sent out by council chiefs to gauge public opinion on hospital cuts has come in for another stinging attack this time from a Bracknell housewife.
The questionnaire appears in the borough council magazine Town and Country which was put through all letterboxes in the Bracknell area before Christmas.
It makes up part of a consultation exercise that the council is carrying out before it makes its mind up on whether to support cuts at Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot.
But mother of three Angela Fenwick, 36, of Scott Terrace, Bullbrook, claims the council has done its upmost to play down the questionnaire.
Councillors and campaigners have already slammed the council for alleged bias towards the cuts, which include a scaling down of accident maternity. and emergency and Mrs Fenwick insists the questionnaire was poorly worded, hidden away, badly timed for the Christmas period and heavily weighted in favour of the cuts.
She says friends and acquaintances with strong views on the cuts have gone unheard because they quite simply failed to spot the questionnaire.
She said: "There were no public notices asking residents to send the forms back.
They should go round door to door asking people what they think."
"People aren't aware of these forms.
The council should have sent out something more obvious."
Extract Ascot & Bracknell & Wokingham Times 12/01/1995

 

Hospital Protest Leads to Petition

The campaign to save threatened services at Heatherwood Hospital has intensified with the launch of a petition by Labour councillors.
And they have thrown down the gauntlet to chiefs at the Tory led borough council with claims that they are "pussyfooting" around the issue of the cuts.
The rebuke came as the councillors took to the streets of Bracknell town centre last week to collect signatures against the proposed cuts in accident and emergency and maternity services.
The petition calls for all elected borough councillors to take a stand against the changes.
Hospital chiefs want to move these services to Wexham Park Hospital in Slough.
A consultation is currently being done to gauge reaction.
The main concerns are over inadequate public transport to alternative hospitals, the safety of a midwife-led maternity unit at Heatherwood and the ability of other hospitals like Wexham to deal with extra patients.
Binfield county councillor Mandy Councillor Austin McCormack gets Wilf Hirst's signature for the petition Williams, who is spearheading the protest, said: "During the next few weeks Labour councillors will be visiting shopping centres throughout Bracknell to talk to residents about the proposals for Heatherwood."
She said the findings would be published and discussed by members of Labour's health team.
Shadow Health Minister Nick Brown is due to visit at the end of this month.
Austin McCormack, district councillor for Wildridings, said: "We believe most people are concerned about the proposed changes to services.
"We are concerned that the Bracknell Tories are pussyfooting around the issue of Heatherwood."
The petition will be presented to Bracknell Forest Borough Council chiefs in February.
Extract Ascot & Bracknell Times 19/01/1995

 

Questions that Need Answers

With the great Heatherwood Hospital debate set to continue, I feel it is essential that all the issues involved should get a proper airing.
For instance, why is it that the Trust is so ready to suggest that the paediatric service at Heatherwood must be transferred to Wexham Park? What attempts have been made to recruit or train paediatricians nationally? Shortages do not occur overnight!
Also, why cannot obstetricians be trained to take on this role. After all, it is a related discipline.
Alternatively, if recruitment is so difficult in this country, why not seek paediatricians from abroad? This was carried out successfully in the past with doctors.
I maintain that where there is a will there's a way. Is this matter worth a letter to both Andrew MacKay, MP, and the Community Health Council in Slough? I think so!
I shall also be attending a meeting at the Licensed Victuallers School, London Road, Ascot, on January 27 at 7.30pm when this point and all the other issues of vital Importance to the people in this area will be discussed. ?
PD Squires, Southwold, Roman Wood, Bracknell.
Extract Wokingham Times 26/01/1995

 

How To Lose An Election

At a public meeting recently I heard a good recipe for losing a General Election.
First, establish a New Town in an area where hospital facilities are good (for the size of population).
Second, some time later increase the population at a rate that is faster than almost any other in the country, against the wishes of the local population, the local councils and the county.
Next, after improving the local hospital services for a time, decrease them again so that much of the population have to travel through or around two major towns to reach emergency services or to visit sick members of their families.
Lastly ensure that people cannot get to the hospital by public transport without extreme difficulty especially during important visiting times at the weekend.
Where, Sir, is the logic of expanding services at Wexham Park Hospital, just to the North of Slough (which is not an area of population expansion) at the cost of running down the facilities at Heatherwood Hospital, which serves rapidly developing Bracknell and the surrounding area? Where is the strategic planning in all this?
If the Government do not get their act together, they may find they are a Conservative MP or two short in this area.
David Jones, Priory Lane, Bracknell.
Extract Ascot & Bracknell Times 26/01/1995

 

MP Does U-turn Over Hospital

Bracknell MP Andrew MacKay has had a dramatic change of heart about proposals to cut services at Heatherwood Hospital.
As the period of public consultation came to an end this week, the Tory whip said Health Secretary Virginia Bottomley should be the one to decide what happens to the Ascot hospital.
Mr MacKay's about turn came after a public meeting, organised by the Heatherwood Action Group, attracted more than 300 people.
The group has been campaigning against plans for the hospital which would include: scrapping the baby care unit, replacing the 24-hour accident and emergency department with a minor injury unit and changing the maternity unit from being consultant led to midwife led.
After a three month public consultation, which ended on Tuesday, Mr MacKay said the matter was too important for the trust to decide on alone.
"I have reached the conclusion that there are sufficiently complex questions not yet satisfactorily resolved in the public consultation period particularly relating to the future of the maternity and paediatric units that it would be wisest for a final decision to be made by the Secretary of State and not by the hospital trust after this consultation is over.
"Therefore I plan to make a representation to Virginia Bottomley accordingly as I believe this would also give us extra time to come to a satisfactory conclusion and reach satisfactory solutions," he said.
When the Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals Trust published the proposals last November, Mr MacKay said they were "common sense."
But since then a vigorous campaign against the plans has gained a large amount of support.
"I think it would be most unfortunate if we are without a full maternity and paediatrics unit at Heatherwood," Mr MacKay said this week.
"There's considerable public concern. I'm anxious to ensure them the best possible result."
County councillor Mandy Williams welcomed the MP's announcement and was due to put forward a motion to refer the matter to Virginia Bottomley at a meeting of the Community Health Council this week.
"I am glad he has done his U-turn and listened to his constituents at the final hour.
I think it's looking more hopeful and if there's a 90 day consultation by the Secretary of State it would be due to finish a week or so before local elections.
"I think it would be a brave Secretary of State that would cut services at that time," said Ms Williams.
A former consultant of Heatherwood Hospital told a public meeting in Ascot on Friday: "The solution the hospitals trust has outlined is a short term solution based on no research.
I would say that these proposals for the maternity unit at Heatherwood are not viable at all."
The question time' style debate was attended by 330 people who were given the chance to fire questions at a panel of Heatherwood bosses and campaigners.
Extract Bracknell Times 02/02/1995

 

Heatherwood, Victory In sight

By Charles Nelson
Bracknell MP Andrew MacKay has said he is confident that Health Minister Virginia Bottomley will intervene in plans to scrap acute services at Heatherwood Hospital.
The Tory MP has disclosed that he spoke to the Health Secretary and her ministers on Monday night about the planned changes to the Ascot hospital.
He is asking the Department of Health to step in to make the final decision on whether the changes to the maternity and accident and emergency department should go ahead.
The decision would otherwise fall on local health chiefs who have been criticised by hospital campaigners for ignoring public opposition to the cuts.
But an influential county councillor has questioned whether the MP is really committed to saving services or whether he is just publicity hunting.
Mr MacKay said: "I am confident having spoken to ministers including the Secretary of State, Virginia Bottomley, last night (February 20) that the minister responsible for making the recommendations, Tom Sackville, will 'call in' the proposals due to my representation and public feeling in Bracknell.
"Virginia Bottomley and her fellow ministers Tom Sackville and Gerry Malone have all expressed understanding of our concerns and have led me to believe that we are right to ask for the proposals to be 'called in'.
"I'm hopeful that these considerations will throw up some suggestions for them and their officials which will resolve these problems." He said hospital trust chiefs could attract more paediatricians to work at Heatherwood by offering them better pay.
A shortage of paediatricians has been cited by trust bosses as a prime reason for the need to trim back the maternity department.
"I've written again to Dr Brian Smith, the chairman of the Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals Trust, urging him to take advantage of the government directive to health chiefs that they can negotiate local pay agreements.
"He should be advertising at higher salary to attract paediatricians, which he is allowed to do.
"It is precisely circumstances like this that have persuaded Virginia Bottomley and the government that local pay negotiations are sensible."
But Binfield county councillor Mandy Williams is sceptical about Mr MacKay commitment to saving Heatherwood services.
She said his intervention had so far been lukewarm and that the MP is more interested in courting publicity than in taking any real action.
She added: "I think he is jumping up and down because of public opinion and not because of the threat to local services."
Extract Bracknell Times 23/02/1995

 

Concern over Heatherwood

Bracknell Forest Borough Council's response to the threat to Heatherwood Hospital was a grave disappointment.
At a meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee on February 8 the Tory majority put forward a recommendation that the Berkshire Health Authority and the Heatherwood/Wexham Park Hospital Trust the very organisations which are colluding to run down Heatherwood should commission an "independent study" of the health needs of East Berkshire.
I found it hard to believe that such a study would be truly independent and moved an amendment based on a recent constructive proposal by Heatherwood Action Group.
They suggest that a genuinely independent report on the future of Heatherwood should be commissioned by Heatherwood Action Group and funded by the whole community of East Berkshire.
To my deep regret my amendment was voted down, even though just such a report, commissioned by Alton Health Group with support from the whole community, has led to the establishment of Alton's previously threatened local hospital as a successful independent charitable Trust.
Cllr Juliet Clifford, Popeswood Road, Binfield, Bracknell.
Extract Bracknell Times 23/02/1995

 

Hospital Campaigners Set up Fighting Fund

Campaigners are launching a major fundraising appeal to help them in their fight to protect key services from being slashed at Heatherwood Hospital.
The Heatherwood Action Group (HAG), set up last year to challenge the changes, hopes to raise an initial amount of £7,000 to fund an independent management study.
To help raise the money the group plans to organise a sponsored parachute jump, car boot sales, coffee mornings and other events throughout the year.
The group has already applied for charitable status and will officially launch the appeal tomorrow (Friday) at the entrance to the Ascot hospital.
The study, to be carried out by housing and health consultants HACAS, will come up with alternative options for the future of Heatherwood to those put forward by health chiefs-who plan to trim back the accident and emergency and maternity units.
A separate study will simultaneously be carried out by a voluntary professional group called the Health Consortia, set up by HAG.
Don Veakins commented: "The next phase of our campaign, 'an options appraisal' by HACAS, requires at least £7,000, considerably more funds than those so far obtained by individual contributions.
"Once the favoured option is identified, further analysis, including a business plan, is anticipated to cost £15,000."
He described how business, industry and members of the public can help the group reach their initial target.
"We are asking companies for donations and contributions.
Residents who are able to spare money for the campaign are also being asked to give a minimum donation of £1."
Donations should be sent to Tessa Hosking, Treasurer, 47 Beech Hill Road, Sunningdale, Ascot SL5 OBJ or Don Veakins, 29 Trumbull Road, Bracknell.
Cheques and postal orders should be made payable to HAG.
Extract Bracknell Times 02/03/1995

 

Bracknell

Bracknell Easthampstead Townswomen's Guild received two letters of thanks from Imperial Cancer Research Fund and the Heatherwood Hospice for donations from the Guild's Charity Evening in December.
Extract Wokingham Times 02/03/1995

 

Save Our Hospital

Campaigners gathered outside the gates of Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot last Friday to launch a major fundraising appeal to help them in their fight to stop key services being slashed.
An initial appeal target of £7,000 has been set by the Heatherwood Action Group (HAG) to pay for an independent study into alternative options for the hospital's future to those put forward by local health chiefs who want to trim back the accident and emergency and maternity departments.
Public opposition to the planned cuts has been growing in recent months and thousands of concerned residents have signed a petition in protest.
Calls have been made for Health Secretary Virginia Bottomley MP to intervene.
HAG campaigner Don Veakins, who is leading the fundraising push, said: "The next phase of our campaign, an options appraisal by HACAS, requires at least £7.000, considerably more than funds than those so far obtained by individual contributions.
"We are asking companies for donations and contributions.
Residents who are able to spare money for the campaign are also being asked to give a minimum donation of £1."
The action group plans to organise a sponsored parachute jump, car boot sales, coffee mornings and other events throughout the year to help with the campaign.
Extract Bracknell Times 09/03/1995

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.
The photo Captioned:"Save Our Hospital".
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photo here.

 

Kray Dies

Notorious gangland boss Ronnie Kray died today from what was believed to be a massive heart attack.
Kray, 61, had been transferred Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot to Wexham Park in Slough suffering from anaemia and acute tiredness.
He was taken to hospital after collapsing twice at Broadmoor top security hospital.
Extract Reading Weekend Post 17/03/1995

 

Political Unity Over Hospital

In July 1994 I read the purchasing strategy document of the Berkshire Health Authority and on listening to various rumours and public statements, I realised that the 1989/90 battle for Heatherwood Hospital, which we thought we had won, was only held in the background until the massive opposition of that time had been lulled into a false sense of security.
The Heatherwood Action Group, which is a totally non-party political organisation, was set up by local people, concerned at the threat to their hospital.
The sole aim of the group is to prevent the loss of acute services at Heatherwood Hospital.
The group is delighted to recognise the very obvious signs of unity between the various political parties in their opposition to the Berkshire Health Authority plans concerning Heatherwood.
Heatherwood is very dear to the hearts of our local population and it is a matter of great joy and most heartening to see such a development.
All the political parties have put the hospital first and joined with us to keep Heatherwood as our hospital with full acute services for our fast growing population.
In this regards the local politicians and party members are to be congratulated since in other areas such unity has saved the day for other hospitals.
Jerry Glynn, Chairman, HAG, Ringwood Close, South Ascot.
Extract Ascot & Bracknell & Wokingham Times 23/03/1995

 

New Name, New Image

The action group campaigning against proposed cuts at Heatherwood Hospital has changed its name to keep up with its increasingly high profile image.
At its annual general meeting last week, members agreed to alter the name of the Heatherwood Action Group to Heatherwood Advisory Group (HAG).
"Previously, we've been pigeon holed as a political group but we're not," explained HAG spokesperson Carol Brooker.
"We're trying to change our image to reflect our new, more consultative role."
The new low-key title will also assist the group in its bid to gain charitable status.
Jerry Glynn was re-elected as chairman of HAG.
Extract Bracknell Times 30/03/1995

 

BHA Accused of Rationing Treatment

Cash Before Patients Criticism Denied
By Jenny Dinning
Health bosses have hit out at claims that patients in Wokingham and Bracknell are being denied hospital treatment because it costs too much.
Figures contained in a House of Commons report show that Berkshire Health Authority (BHA) refused to pay for treatment for 76 patients in the year since it was set up.
The report by a select committee has led to calls for new guidelines on how important financial considerations are when deciding whether treatment should be given.
Members say the BHA over spent by £1 million last year and claim decisions regarding some patients "may have been unduly influenced by financial considerations."
The row comes weeks after a decision by NHS bosses in Cambridge to refuse chemotherapy treatment to a 10-year-old girl.
But bosses at the BHA have denied claims that they are rationing treatment and say most of the patients turned away were "low-priority".
At the moment, the cost of most types of treatment is covered by contracts between the health authority and hospitals in this area the Royal Berkshire and Battle hospitals, and Heatherwood and Wexham Park.
Problems sometimes arise when patients are not covered by this funding arrangement and their GP has to ask the authority to cover the extra cost of treatment, known as an extra-contractual referral (ECR).
This usually happens when the GP thinks the patient would receive better treatment at a hospital outside the area with specialist staff.
It also covers the situation when someone is injured on holiday and needs treatment at a hospital in another part of the country.
Current Department of Health guidelines say ECRs should not be refused solely on the grounds of cost.
But critics say the use of the word "solely" means authorities are justified in considering cost and should be given clearer guidelines on how much weight they should be given.
Mandy Williams, county councillor for Binfield, says the report shows NHS bosses are being forced into rationing treatment because of a lack of funds.
She said: "The figures show that despite government protestations the NHS is underfunded.
The 76 patients refused treatment must have been referred by clinicians or GPs who felt this treatment was necessary.
"Bracknell and Wokingham people pay their national insurance contributions in good faith and many have been paying into the scheme for forty years or more.
"They have the right to expect their health care needs to be met.
If you have an insurance policy and your house burns down you expect the insurance company to pay.
"You do not expect them to say 'sorry, your house is too old or will cost too much to replace."
But BHA spokesman David Rowson denied that saving money was more important than saving lives.
He said: "Some of the 76 patients would have gone on to have treatment but not necessarily at the hospital where their GP wanted them to.
If we think we can provide the service under one of our contracts we will.
"Most of the patients would have wanted low-priority treatment such as tattoo removal or breast enlargement.
We do provide this sort of treatment but we review every case individually before deciding.
"There have been no life threatening cases like the little girl with leukaemia. The health service ombudsman did look at one case where treatment was refused and decided that our decision was flawed but that was because of clinical reasons.
"We are not unduly influenced by financial considerations.
In that case, the GP had wanted the man to be sent to a specialist and we refused. There was a break down in communication and we did not say why.
"We realise now we should have made it clear to the patient and his GP that we weren't refusing treatment entirely, merely letting one of our contracts carry it out."
Extract Ascot & Bracknell & Wokingham Times 30/03/1995

 

Village Voice, Amersham & Chesham

Tomorrow, Thursday, the Chilterns branch of the National Asthma Campaign is trying a new venue in Amersham for its next meeting. The group will be meeting at 7.45pm in the barn hall at Amersham Community Centre and everyone is welcome to hear a talk on asthma in the workplace.
The speaker will be Dr Mike Smith, a chest specialist at Heatherwood hospital and fact sheets will be available.
For more details about the branch's activities. telephone 01494 724829 or 726341.
Extract Advertiser News & Advertising 05/04/1995

 

County Demand Hospital Inquiry

The county council is calling on Health Secretary Virginia Bottomley to launch an inquiry into the running of the trust responsible for Heatherwood Hospital amidst fears of declining standards and staff morale.
Berkshire council chiefs say that recent figures show a high number of complaints being made about services provided by the Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals' Trust.
And they add that a succession of top managers are proving incapable of solving day-to-day running problems.
The Berkshire Health Authority report for the last three months of last year showed an average of around one complaint per day and revealed that 87 operations had been cancelled, 17 not being rescheduled within a month.
The county's social services committee on March 30 members voted unanimously to write to the Secretary of State calling for her intervention.
Trust spokesperson Jacquie Lawton said: "Most of these issues have been addressed.
At the Berkshire Health Authority meeting last week they praised the way we have responded."
Extract Bracknell Times 06/04/1995

 

Health watchdogs Take Defiant Stand Over Heatherwood

By Charles Nelson
Controversial plans to scrap key services at Heatherwood Hospital were set to be torn from the hands of local health chiefs on Tuesday.
Members of the Community Health Council, the public health watchdog, were expected to agree once and for all that the proposals, including cuts in the maternity and accident and emergency departments, are unacceptable.
And this means that responsibility for making the final decision would now fall on the Secretary of State, even though Berkshire health bosses have already given their go-ahead to the scheme.
CHC chief officer Sue Hann said that members would be looking closely at new information provided by the Berkshire Health Commission, including details of its recruitment drive for paediatricians.
But she added that the conclusion of the council would almost certainly be that there are still too many unanswered questions about the plans.
"The proposals for the midwife-led maternity unit led us to ask a lot of questions, very few of which have been answered. We can't afford to sit and wait for more talking."
Sending it up to Virginia Bottomley for her opinion will, at the very least, give campaigners valuable extra time to persuade decision makers to ditch or change the plans.
But whether the Health Minister will decide that a rethink is necessary remains to be seen.
"You do hear of cases where they manage to get things turned," Mrs Hann added.
Extract Bracknell Times 06/04/1995

 

Lights Out Claim Denied

Health bosses have strongly denied claims that nurses at Heatherwood Hospital have been told to turn lights off in wards in the evening to cut down on electricity costs.
Nurses at the Ascot hospital are reported to now be doing their evening drug round by torchlight and are said to have raised concerns that they might accidentally dish out the wrong medicine.
Two separate reports, from a nurse and a patient, have suggested that hospital staff had been sent a letter saying that lights must be turned off by 8.30pm.
The cost-cutting claims come at a time when health chiefs want to scrap key services at Heatherwood national staff shortages.
Jacquie Lawton, spokesperson for the Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals Trust, confirmed that a letter had been sent out to staff at the hospital and that the new policy was being carried out on two wards.
But she said that it was being implemented so that patients could sleep better, at their own request, and that it was not designed to save money.
Binfield county councillor and hospital campaigner Mandy Williams said: "The patient told me that nurses were going around with torches but that one nurse switched the light on and off again because she wouldn't do it by torchlight.
"I would be very surprised if it were anything other than a cost cutting measure.
Nobody I spoke to said that it had anything to do with patients wanting to go to sleep early. Wanting to go to sleep at 8.30pm, even hospital."
Extract Bracknell Times 13/04/1995

 

May 4, Set For The Fight of Their Lives

Candidates are gearing up for the fight of their lives as canvassing starts in the run up to the Bracknell borough, town and parish council elections. Local issues, such as the threat of cuts at Heatherwood Hospital, housing and council tax, promise to figure prominently at all levels on May 4, and the dominant borough Tories, all too aware of the plight of John Major's cabinet, won't be complaining.
Extract Wokingham Times 13/04/1995

 

Bracknell Times, Comment's Column

The proposals to close the casualty and maternity and gynaecological services at Heatherwood Hospital and move them to Wexham Park at Slough have been called in and are now in the hands of Secretary of State for Health, Virginia Bottomley.
This lady has few parliamentary friends at the moment. She was castigated by all and sundry in the House of Commons when she chose to announce hospital closures in a written answer.
Even Wokingham MP John Redwood spoke out against her, saying that people liked their local hospitals.
It is no fun travelling miles to hospital appointments, probably in pain, and to casualty departments, and no fun being miles away from family and friends when you have just had a baby.
The chances are that, if Bracknell MP Andrew Mackay listens to his constituents, then he will make Mrs Bottomley listen to him and the proposed closures will not go ahead.
But don't count on it.
Behind the Mary Poppins image is a lady just as iron as her heroine.
Extract Ascot & Bracknell & Wokingham Times 13/04/1995

 

MP Blasts New Hold Up Over Heatherwood

Health chiefs have been given one last chance to prove the worth of their controversial proposals to radically cut back acute services at Heatherwood Hospital.
Rather than send the plans as expected to the Secretary of State to make the final decision, the regional health authority has stunned campaigners and politicians by ordering another month of local level consultation.
Bracknell MP Andrew MacKay, who has been pushing for Virginia Bottomley's department to intervene, has reacted angrily at the news, branding the new consultation a "bureaucratic nonsense".
"It is a complete waste of time as the public are very clear about the proposals so I deeply regret that this is necessary," he said. And he insisted: "At the end of the month it will then be called in to the Secretary of State - - unless of course the region come up with some better plans, which will be welcomed by my constituents and myself."
And leader Bracknell borough council, Cllr Bob Angell, even went as far as to accuse health bosses of using the new consultation as a ploy to bash public opposition into submission.
"They are just using delaying tactics. There is going to be nothing new at the end of the day. They are just trying to wear public opinion down and use up the time between now and August"
Two other consultations on the plans have already been carried out in the last six months by trust and commission bosses.
And both were slammed for supposedly failing to take into account the strong public feeling against the proposed cuts to the maternity and accident and emergency departments.
When the local public health watchdog, the Community Health Council, reached a dead lock with the Commission over the plans earlier this month it was believed that the government would step in to resolve the crisis by making the final decision.
But this latest furore broke out when the regional health authority voted against this course of action last Friday.
Local health chiefs have already said that they may have to push ahead with the cuts, or even close the earmarked departments down, on safety grounds in August, regardless of whether Mrs Bottomley has had her say.
Extract Bracknell Times 27/04/1995

 

Health Workers In A Bid To Get Fit

Staff at Heatherwood Hospital are being urged to look after their own health. A new initiative has been launched by the Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals Trust to raise awareness of health issues amongst employees at the hospital in Ascot.
The get fit campaign includes a week of activities and got off to a flying start on Monday with a visit from Saracen, a Gladiator from the hit TV show.
Events designed to get staff motivated to take better care of themselves include a relaxation class, fitness testing and information sessions about smoking, alcohol, substance abuse and HIV/Aids awareness.
Peter Murphy, director of personnel at the trust, explained: "Staff are very committed and work very hard but it is often easy to take care of our patients health and yet neglect their own physical and mental well-being.
"We are keen to let staff have a full range of activities to choose from. This week is the start of an on-going programme so that staff can become aware of their own health needs and to give them the information that they might benefit from."
Extract Ascot & Bracknell & Wokingham Times 27/04/1995

 

Queen Will Open Centre

The Queen is to visit two organisations based in the grounds of Heatherwood Hospital.
The red carpet will be rolled out on Monday, May 15 when she opens the Paul Bevan House Day Hospice for cancer sufferers and visits the Ascot branch of the British Red Cross centre.
The hospice, named after Ascot businessman Paul Bevan, who died of cancer in 1981, has been funded by around £800,000 raised over a two-year period by local people. It has the facilities to cater for 15 patients per day.
The Queen will be greeted by the Vice Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire William Benyon and his wife Lady Benyon and will then go on to unveil a plaque.
A request for the visit was made to the Queen by the President of the Hospice Appeal, Sir Nicholas Beaumont, a former clerk at Ascot Racecourse.
Hospice administrator Julia Lawson said: "We are very excited and honoured." And Red Cross spokesman Mostyn Rickard said: "Everybody is absolutely delighted at the royal visit because it comes at a time when we are celebrating the 125th anniversary of the British Red Cross.
"This will be a wonderful opportunity for Her Majesty to get an insight into the work carried out by our volunteer members in and around the Ascot area.
"It also goes very well because our centre was opened by Her Majesty the Queen Mother five years ago."
Extract Ascot & Bracknell & Wokingham Times 04/05/1995

 

Thanks For All You Have Done

Organised by Winkfield Parish Council,
the annual awards aim to acknowledge groups and individuals who have made a special contribution to life in the parish. They were presented at the council's annual meeting.
John and June Paulding, of Jubilee Close, Ascot. To Mr Paulding for being the driving force behind the Heatherwood Advisory Group and to Mrs Paulding for supporting him and for helping the elderly folk in the area.
Groups and organisations receiving awards were the Heatherwood Advisory Group, The Paul Bevan Cancer Foundation, Ascot Heath C of E Junior School for environmental work and awareness North Ascot Residents Association and the HFC Bank for its general support to the council.
Extract Bracknell Times 04/05/1995

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by two photos.
The first photo Captioned:"Ruth Trimbell who works for the Chavey Down association". The second photo Captioned:"Kath Watson & Husband Tom".
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Charitable Move by Students

Students their struck a home run for charity by organising own fundraising baseball match to help cancer sufferers.
The teenagers, from Bracknell College, were set the task of arranging a charity event as part of their and Leisure Tourism course.
All 45 classmates put their heads together and came up with the idea of raising money for the Paul Bevan Day Care Hospice at Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot and have themselves a swinging good time in the process.
The sponsored match, which took two months to was organise, played at Bracknell Sports and Leisure Centre last Wednesday in glorious sunshine and was watched by around 50 cheering spectators.
Jes Brunt, one of the students taking part, said that hundreds of pounds had been raised. "It went really well and it was a great day. The hospice is a local charity and it needs money."
Extract Wokingham Times 11/05/1995

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The photo Captioned:"Charitable Move by Students".
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In Critical Condition

Charles Nelson On the Emergency Facing Heatherwood
The fate of Heatherwood Hospital hangs in the balance. Local health chiefs have apparently failed to convince the public that their plans to scrap key services at the Ascot hospital make sense and it now looks likely that the government will tear the scheme from their hands to make the final decision itself.
Right across the country local hospitals like Heatherwood are fighting to survive as the government implements radical reforms in the NHS.
Central to these national changes in the health service is the philosophy that rather than spread money, and new technology, thinly on the ground amongst numerous small hospitals it is better to concentrate resources in larger centres of excellence.
Few local issues in recent times in the Bracknell area have sparked such a strong reaction from the public-hardly surprising if one considers what is at stake.
Health bosses in East Berkshire want to strip the hospital of acute services and transfer them to Wexham Park Hospital in Slough.
But campaigners protest that Bracknell is a growing centre of population and needs its own full district hospital with a complete range of acute services.
They have also criticised the safety of the proposals and the inconvenience that Bracknell residents, including many pensioners, will face in getting to Slough for treatment.
Health bosses argue that creating a larger and more centralised hospital in Slough is the only way to get around the problem of national staff shortages, which has been created in part by a reduction in junior doctors' working hours.
Targeted to go are the accident and emergency and maternity departments which would be replaced by a minor injuries unit and nurse led maternity unit.
Also targeted to go are the children's Rainbow Ward and the special care baby unit, which has been paid for in large part by local fundraisers.
But local people are not letting the services go without a fight.
Over 33,500 have signed a petition against the cuts and local MPs have been bombarded by letters of concern.
The Heatherwood Advisory Group (formerly Heatherwood Action Group), set up last year, has spearheaded this increasing public opposition and it continues to gain in strength.
More opposition has come from parish and town councils, Bracknell borough council, not to mention the health watch- dog Community Health Council and now even Bracknell MP Andrew MacKay.
The great Heatherwood debate has now reached a crucial juncture after the local health watchdog, the Community Health Council, failed to give its approval to the scheme.
This should mean that the plans are ripped from local health chiefs and sent up to Health Secretary Virginia Bottomley for her to make the final decision.
But this was delayed at least until June after the regional health authority decided that Berkshire health bosses extend their consultation so that fresh evidence can be presented to relevant public bodies regarding its efforts to recruit paediatricians.
Nevertheless, Mr MacKay insists that despite the hold-up the government will still be stepping in take responsibility for deciding if the plans should go ahead.
At the very least, this would give campaigners valuable extra time to persuade decision makers to ditch or change the scheme.
To help them achieve this, members of HAG are busy getting their own appraisal of options for the hospital's future prepared.
Here, the TIMES examines some of the key issues surrounding the Heatherwood controversy and looks into the future prospects for the hospital.
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 11/05/1995

 

Behind The Struggle

Behind the public struggle to save services at the hospital Heatherwood Advisory Group (HAG), which has become as increasingly professional and influential organisation since it was set up last year.
Chairman of HAG, Jerry Glynn, said: "I started HAG off from home with a couple of friends and, because of the strength of feeling, people have come along with us."
The group now has its own committee, as well as a press officer, it is currently applying for charitable status and has published its own vision on the future of Heatherwood in a document called Heatherwood Does Have a Choice'.
It was partly because of persuasion by HAG members that Bracknell MP Andrew MacKay made his dramatic U- turn on the plans recently, switching from saying they were common sense' to putting forward serious reservations about them.
HAG has also been responsible for galvanising massive public feeling against the proposals, with more than 33,000 concerned residents signing its petition.
"Everyone who has signed the petition was totally convinced in their own mind that they wanted the hospital," Mr Glynn added.
"It is a lot more hopeful now that it has gone to the Secretary of State. I know that she has a very fixed attitude, such as to the London hospitals, but this is a different situation.
"We don't believe the shortage of paediatricians is as acute as we are led to believe." HAG has now set up its own fundraising appeal, with Fan initial target of £7,000, to finance an independent management study by consultants into the future of the hospital.
The group's aim is to keep Heatherwood as a full district hospital with the entire range of maternity and accident and emergency services.
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 11/05/1995

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The photo Captioned:"Jerry Glynn A lot more hopeful now".
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Don't Hold Your Breath

Should campaigners have fresh cause for hope that the services can be saved now that the Secretary of State looks set to make the final decision? After all, Virginia Bottomley pushed on with the closure of the accident and emergency department at St Bartholomew's Hospital in east London despite huge public protest.
And, regardless of the thinly veiled criticism from members of her own party recently, including Wokingham MP John Redwood, the minister continues to proclaim her health service reforms as the best way forward.
Isn't Heatherwood after all only a small cog in the NHS wheel? Why believe that the government will make an exception in this case?
Binfield county councillor Mandy Williams, a critic of the throughout, warns cuts against placing too much faith in any last minute change of heart in the corridors of government.
"It's right that it has been referred to the Secretary of State because the national factors that are driving the changes are not well known to the public and are not accepted or understood by them.
"But I feel that the policy being pursued is government policy and I'll be very surprised if Virginia Bottomley changes the recommendations.
In the recent debate in the Commons Mrs Bottomley made it quite clear that she wants fewer larger sites.
"But the government do seem to be getting the jitters over the health service and the many hospital closures, highlighted by the recent debacle over Barts.
"We've seen John Redwood hinting that the government's policy is perhaps not the right one and that bigger sites aren't necessarily the answer.
"We should be asking the government for a quick decision otherwise there will be a lack of confidence in the hospital and patients and staff will be drifting away."
Cllr Williams also feels that there is a danger that local health chiefs could try and justify going ahead with their plans, without government approval, on safety grounds in the light of staff shortages.
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 11/05/1995

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The photo Captioned:"Don't Hold Your Breath."
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Mums Feel Strongly

Campaigners fear that the changes will spell the end for maternity care at Heatherwood because mums will choose to go elsewhere to give birth.
And many feel that mothers and new born babies will be put at risk if the consultant-led maternity service is reduced to a midwife-led service.
Mother or child needing emergency consultant treatment may have to rushed over to Wexham Park by ambulance, a trip which some fear could take 40 minutes or more.
But hospital chiefs say that the change to a midwife-led unit makes sense because it gives mothers more choice.
A unit specifically led by a team of midwife's would mean more one-to-one pre-natal care for mums than can be offered in the current unit.
Mothers judged to be in the high-risk category would automatically be referred to a consultant- led unit, at Wexham Park or another hospital.
Hospital bosses are said to have estimated that the number of women who deliver at Heatherwood will drop from 2,300 to around 800 to 1,000 per year after the changes.
However, a survey carried out by the Ascot and District branch of the National Childbirth Trust revealed that 82 per cent of women in the hospital's catchment area want a doctor on the premises when they give birth.
And this, the NCT says, means most women will opt for another hospital to give birth leading to an eventual closure of the maternity unit at Heatherwood.
Mum-of-two Susan Campbell,38, of Shepherd's Lane in Priestwood, Bracknell, says that mothers feel strongly about the cuts.
She said: "I have a lot of concerns about the cuts. The main one is the distance I had to give birth unplanned at home because I couldn't cope with the distance to Heatherwood let alone Wexham Park.
"It's also a problem if your child is in the special care baby unit in Slough because the advice is that you spend as long as possible there and you don't want to have to spend more time on the road.
"I'm lucky enough to have a car a lot of mums don't and there's no direct train link and the bus journey can take an hour. "I think it's quite often that someone with a low risk pregnancy is found to be high risk at the very last moment.
"A lot of mums, especially those giving birth for the first time, would choose not to use Heatherwood because you don't want to take any risk at all.
"Especially if you think that there might be a problem at the last moment and you'll have to be moved to Wexham Park.
"I'm also concerned about the way it all seems to have been rushed through without much real consultation as though it's a foregone conclusion.
"They say that the midwife-led service gives you more choice but it doesn't give high-risk mothers more choice."
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 11/05/1995

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The photo Captioned:"Mum Susan Campbell Says high Risk mothers will be given no choice."
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Background

Heatherwood Hospital was founded at the end of the First World War as an orthopaedic hospital.
Mid 70's becomes designated a district general hospital, with a full range of acute services, including accident and emergency and maternity.
1989 Initial signs begin to appear that health bosses are considering cutting services, which prompts the first public campaign to save them, with public meetings and 66,000 signing a petition.
Sunday, October 15 1989 - Around 3,000 people join hands in a human chain from Bracknell bandstand to Ascot in protest at the plans.
The link is not quite completed but all major routes blocked.
1990 Medical consultants Touche Ross employed by health chiefs to look at ways to phase out services at the hospital.
Arguments put forward by protesters for keeping services sway consultants into agreeing that a district hospital is needed for Bracknell.
In the light of this, health basses agree to maintain threatened services for the time being."
1991 Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals Trust sat up followed by temporary lull in threat to services at the hospital Health chiefs claim that establishing a trust in the best way to conserve Heatherwood's services.
1994-Health Authority publish their strategic plan into the next century, which heavily hints at the need for changes at Heatherwood.
September 10 1994 This prompts trust chiefs to publish a document "The Way Ahead revealing its intention to trim back acute services at the hospital and move them to Wexham Park Hospital Heatherwood Action Group is set up with the aim of fighting the proposals.
November 4 1994 A 90-day joint consultation on the plans Launched by the trust and health authority. It is heavily criticised for not taking into account views of the public.
1995-More than 33,000 sign a petition opposing the cuts. Over 380 people attend a Question Time style debate, heralded as a huge success by HAG.
January 1995-HAG publishes its own special report on the future of the hospital to coincide with the end of the public consultation period.
Community Health Council, the public health watchdog, rejects the scheme because it does not meet health needs of local people, resulting in another 90-day consultation.
Bracknell MP Andrew MacKay has dramatic change of heart by raising reservations about the cuts after previously saying that they made common sense.
HAG launches February fundraising campaign to pay for independent management study on the future of Heatherwood. March Berkshire Health Commission members agree that there is no alternative to the changes.
A week later the health watchdog public body, the Community Health Council, reaffirms its objections to the plans.
April Virginia Bottomley attacked by top Tories for her health reforms. Wokingham MP John Redwood defends smaller hospitals.
The regional health authority calls for the consultation to be extended by one month, from May 9 to June 6.
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 11/05/1995

 

Queen opens Paul Bevan Day Hospice

The Queen and Prince Philip paid a Royal visit to Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot on Monday.
Her Majesty, resplendent in a red flecked suit with matching hat, was there to open the Paul Bevan day hospice and visit the Red Cross.
Schoolchildren from Ascot Heath C of E junior school had a first hand glimpse of the Royal visitors as they lined the route to the entrance of the site.
And several young fundraisers were given the chance to meet Her Majesty who praised them for their hard work.
Picture shows 10 year old Hanna Steed of Wildridings School, Bracknell presenting a posy to the Queen her reward for raising £130.
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 18/05/1995

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The photo Captioned:"10 year old Hanna Steed of Wildridings School, Bracknell presenting a posy to the Queen her reward for raising £130.".
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Pupils Delighted At Queen's Visit

Good humour ruled the day as a relaxed Queen, accompanied by a jovial Duke of Edinburgh, visited two charities on the Heatherwood hospital site in Ascot on Monday.
During her one hour visit the Queen opened the Paul Bevan day hospice and visited the Red Cross.
The royal couple delighted school children from Ascot Heath Church of England junior school who lined the route to the entrance.
The Queen had a few words for them all while the Duke joked with them. The Queen was dressed in a red, flecked suit with matching hat.
They were shown round the Paul Bevan House, a pleasant and welcoming building designed by Derek Spooner from the Cancer Relief Macmillan Fund.
Paul Bevan died of cancer in 1981 and his wife Penny set up a cancer foundation in his memory.
Money for the hospice, which will cater for 15 patients a day, was raised in conjunction with the Cancer Relief Macmillan Fund.
Before asking the Queen to unveil the plaque Sir Nicholas Beaumont, patron of the foundation, praised the many fundraisers who made the hospice possible.
"The money came from all over Berkshire the young and the old and people from all walks of life."
One young fundraiser was Hannah Steed, aged 10, from Wildridings school, Bracknell, who made an impressive £130. As a reward for her efforts she was given the job of presenting the Queen with a bouquet.
Jason, Paul Bevan's 22 year-old son, told the Queen that he raised money for the appeal by bungee-jumping.
After the official opening the Queen and the Duke chatted with day-patients, including Enid Bow, who was on her first visit to the centre.
The crowd caught another glimpse of the special guests as they strolled next door to the Red Cross.
The Red Cross juniors were among the first to greet the couple, although calm one-year-old Rosina Pekris seemed more preoccupied with her biscuit.
At the other end of the scale was volunteer Meriel Field-Smith.
She said: "The Duke asked me how long I had been in the Red Cross. I told him that it has been 30 years."
Extract Ascot & Bracknell & Wokingham Times 18/05/1995

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Carnival Floats are still Wanted

Carnival time is fast approaching once more for residents in the Sunningdale and Ascot area and this year's festivities are set to be another roaring success.
But more floats are still needed to take part in the colourful carnival procession.
The floats will wind their merry way through Ascot from the racecourse and onto Sunninghill and then to the carnival arena in Sunningdale Recreation Ground, where dozens of stalls will be set up.
Other activities taking place in the recreation ground, in Broomhall Lane, include a six-a-side football final, a magic show and a children's fancy dress competition.
Residents can also enter their family pets in the popular dog obstacle competition, which the organisers insist is not professional and "just a bit of fun".
If all goes well, amateur cyclist David Hutchins will also be cycling into the carnival ground to complete his 2,000-mile around the UK charity ride in aid of The Paul Bevan Day Hospice for Cancer Care at Heatherwood Hospital.
Money raised from the carnival itself will go towards paying for the Pimms Dance at Charters School on July 3, an annual event held free of charge for pensioners with the help of pupils from the school.
Carnival committee secretary Sonya Perkins is optimistic that, as long as the weather holds, the Ascot Area Carnival, on Monday, May 29, will be as big a hit as last year.
She said: We had a very good turnout last year and we were very lucky with the weather. Floats are always very welcome.
"The carnival was started for the Jubilee Year and it was such a success that it's been going ever since.
It's for charities to make lots of money and so that we can raise enough for the pensioners' dance and to run the carnival again next year."
Anyone interested in entering a float should contact Peter Gresswell on 01344-21220.
Extract Bracknell Times 18/05/1995

 

Charles Nelson
Concludes his Look at the Emergency Facing Heatherwood Hospital

Right across the country, local hospitals like Heatherwood are fighting to survive as the government implements radical reforms in the NHS. Protesters say the Bracknell area needs its own full district hospital.
But health bosses want to strip Heatherwood of acute services and transfer them to Wexham Park Hospital in Slough.
'It's the only safe option'
Defiant in the face of mounting opposition, the Berkshire Health Commission continues to advocate its Heatherwood proposals as the only safe option for patients.
It argues that the changes are needed because of the national shortage of paediatricians and the new regulations reducing junior doctors' working hours.
By August, it claims, the staff situation will be so critical that it may have to take matters into own hands, even if Virginia Bottomley has not yet given the changes the go ahead.
This would mean pulling the plug on the entire maternity service at Heatherwood because it will no longer be able to run services safely.
The BHC also says that no amount of extra government money put into training can help the staff crisis and that, at the end of the day, there is no alternative but to implement the changes.
Commission spokesman David Gelstharp gave the BHC perspective on the current situation.
"We are disappointed that we weren't able to win the hearts and minds of the local population in getting them to understand why we need to make the changes.
"I don't want to predict what the Secretary of State will say.
If she says we have to go back to the drawing board then we will have to discuss with the Department of Health why and what alternatives they think there are.
"If it does drag out and if the service becomes unsafe we will have to act on that.
In August we might have to cease all 24-hour paediatric cover on safety grounds."
He added that the numbers of patients using the accident and emergency department would hardly decrease at all if it is made into a minor injuries unit because most serious cases are routed to other hospitals anyway.
And, although the seven day 24-hour paediatric cover will end, other children's services, like out-patient and day surgery, would keep growing.
However, the question of whether a midwife-led maternity unit, without 24-hour paediatric back-up, would prove popular with mums was less clear.
The BHC is arguing that, in the light of the staff crisis, Heatherwood is fortunate to be getting a midwife-led unit at all.
At the end of the day, the BHC says, if mums choose not to use the new maternity department and it has to close then that is their prerogative.
But above all it is adamant that there is no cause for concern and that the new mid- wife-led maternity unit would be safe for mothers and their babies.
In the unlikely case of an unexpected emergency, a new born baby could be got safely to intensive support at one of the surrounding hospitals.
The BHC adds that staff shortages cannot be eased by simply injecting more cash into training because there are strict limits on the number of doctors who can go through training, on a patient to doctor ratio, to ensure that each gets the broad based experience that is required.
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 18/05/1995

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The photo Captioned:"Plenty of protests but will they bear fruit?".
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Lives Will Not Be Put At Risk Ambulance Service

The transfer of accident and emergency support from Heatherwood to Wexham Park has sparked fears that the extra journey time by ambulance to Slough from the Bracknell area will put lives at risk.
Concerns have been raised that ambulances could get stuck in heavy traffic during rush hour. And people who have to make their own way to Slough for treatment or to visit sick friends or relatives will have to contend with long bus journeys and waits at bus stops.
But what does the ambulance service itself think about these concerns? Does it see the increased travel time as a risk factor?
Royal Berkshire Ambulance spokesman Stewart Hookey insisted that patients could still be got to hospital within the target time set by the ambulance service.
He said that most ambulances are being routed to Wexham Park at present anyway because of a trimming down of the A and E department at Heatherwood over the past few years.
He said: "I know that a lot of people are concerned but we would prefer to have one or two major treatment centres within an area.
"Over the last two or three years we've been taking all people with serious injuries to Wexham Park. "It isn't really important whether it's two miles or 20 miles to the nearest accident and emergency department as long as the facilities are there to keep the person alive when they arrive.
"The nearer the hospital the better, but the target we have set to deal with medical emergencies is 45 minutes.
"We will get to hospital to Slough by that time."
He said that the run between Heatherwood and Wexham had been timed at 25 minutes.
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 18/05/1995

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The photo Captioned: Stuart Hockey - "patients will still arrive at hospital within the target time".
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How Will The Elderly Cope?

For the Bracknell area's large community of elderly people the changes would mean having to spend more time and money on public transport.
Most already have to make the journey from Bracknell to Ascot anyway.
But the distance to Slough is far greater and the cost of getting there is more: both major drawbacks given that many elderly people are frail and have to survive on limited pensions.
Many pensioners don't have cars and will have to make the notoriously time consuming and arduous journey by public transport to Slough.
William Boushear, 70, secretary of the 717-member Bracknell Forest Pensioners Association,says: "Our pensioners are very upset about this.
"Jumping on buses is frustrating, plus there's the cost. The average pensioner gets £50 to £60 per week and they've got to fork out money to get to Slough to see a consultant or to visit people.
"People who are handicapped, and there are quite a few of them, have the problem of hanging around at bus stations waiting to get back."
And he said that travelling to Slough by car also poses serious problems.
"Many people who have to get to Wexham Park from Bracknell in the morning are getting held up. And when you get there, there is the problem of finding somewhere to park."
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 18/05/1995

 

Meeting is a Sham

Health chiefs have been criticised over their handling of the latest public consultation into proposed cuts at Heatherwood Hospital.
Campaigners opposed to the plans have branded the one-month consultation, which runs until June 6, a "sham" and accused health chiefs of holding the only public meeting in a remote location.
The Heatherwood Advisory Group (HAG) says that the one-month consultation has also been effectively cut down to just three weeks because health bosses put it out over the bank holiday and half-term holiday.
Jerry Glynn. vice-chairman of HAG, said: "How can these organisations call this an extra consultation period when both parties fail to adequately publicise their only public meeting and hold the meeting at Charters School, Sunningdale, a remote venue that is difficult to reach by public transport?"
The plans were recently sent back for the further consultation after the regional health board decided that local health chiefs should fill the public in on new information, including what they had done to recruit staff, which was presented at the public meeting on May 16.
In another development Bracknell borough council has announced that it intends to step up pressure health bosses" to stop the rundown of services.
Extract Bracknell Times 25/05/1995

 

Heatherwood Campaigners Set £7000 Target

Fundraisers have so far collected over £2,000 to help the campaign to save acute services at Heatherwood Hospital.
But more cash is still desperately needed and campaigners are appealing to the public to come up with ways to raise it.
The Heatherwood Advisory Group (HAG) launched its appeal, called the Future Fund, last year to raise cash to pay for an independent study into the future of hospital, being carried out by consultant group HACAS.
The fund aims to hit a target of £7,000 in its first phase, and money has so far been collected through a variety of events, including car boot sales, sponsored swims, jumble sales and coffee and tea mornings.
There has been much public concern about the changes planned for the Ascot hospital, with 37,000 residents signing a petition organised by HAG.
Fund organiser Don Veakins is appealing to the public to come up with ideas on different ways to raise money.
"They can have car boot sales, tea parties or anything that raises funds.
If everyone who signed the petition sent in one single pound then we'd have a fighting fund within no time," said Mr Veakins.
Ascot resident Brian Lynch did his bit by pounding the roads for sponsorship in a local half marathon in Surrey on Sunday.
Hospital chiefs want to scale down the accident and emergency and maternity departments at the hospital and replace them with a minor injuries unit and a nurse led, instead of consultant-led, maternity unit.
The final decision on whether the changes go ahead is expected to be made by health secretary Virginia Bottomley.
HAG hope that their independent survey will help them to persuade decision makers that there are other alternatives.
Extract Ascot & Bracknell & Wokingham Times 25/05/1995

 

Patients Face Wait After Cash Shock

Patients at Heatherwood Hospital face a huge increase in waiting lists because of a shock cash shortfall just announced by health chiefs, a county councillor claims.
The Berkshire Health Commission has revealed that it needs another £4.3 million if it is going to be able to foot the bill for health services in Berkshire in the coming year.
The shortfall is outlined in a document published by the Commission on May 23, entitled "Initial Financial Plan 1995/96."
In it, health bosses state that negotiations are taking place with the Regional Health Authority, which is responsible for allocating funds to the Commission and which, in turn, gets its funds from the Department of Health.
Binfield Labour county councillor Mandy Williams claims this latest problem will create chaos in the local health service and push up waiting list times like at hospitals Heatherwood, which already faces the threat of major cuts to acute services.
"If more money is not forthcoming we will see a massive, increase in waiting lists and even more chaos in our local hospitals," she said.
"Clearly insufficient money is being made available to finance the needs of people who live in this area.
It's about time the government under took a study to identify the real demand for health services in this county. They should then fund that demand fully.
"If they do not do anything to sort out Berkshire's problems then there is no doubt that they will have a crisis on their hands before the year is out.
"Clearly the market is failing local people if the health authority is forced to admit it cannot purchase the services needed by the population of the area."
Bracknell Tory MP Andrew MacKay said: "I will need assurances that any such shortfall does not lead to increased waiting lists to patients in the constituency which would be a huge pity because waiting lists have been falling so significantly in recent years and we don't want it reversed."
Extract Bracknell Times 01/06/1995

 

The Flower Pot

The Flower Pot is a family business which is run by mother and daughter Sue and Kate Phelps and dedicated assistant Siobahn.
They are specialists in organising any type of flower arrangement from straight forward bouquets and baskets to the most unusual arrangements and displays.
Their reputation in wedding, christening, birthday and funeral flowers goes before them in fact any special event and even contract work for businesses is catered for.
When the queen visited Heatherwood Hospital on May 15, Sue and Kate were privileged to be asked to organise the floral displays and the queen who never normally passes comment was heard to mention how lovely they were.
With free delivery within a radius of three miles and a professional friendly service, Sue and Kate who have had the Flower Pot for two and a half years are now seeing the results of the hard work they have put into the business.
Extract Bracknell Times 01/06/1995

 

Wards Could Merge

Health Reporter Zoe Zarkos
A children's ward faces closure in plans to pool paediatric staff from two hospitals. Staff and equipment from the paediatric department at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, will be transferred to Wexham Park Hospital if the plan goes ahead.
It is feared the move will place extra pressure on the Wexham ward.
Heatherwood and Wexham Park NHS Hospital Trust clinical services director Frank Harsent, who helped draw up the proposal, says the two wards cannot be sustained because of the reduced hours now worked by junior doctors.
The Oxford and Anglia Regional Health Authority has refused to allow Wexham to recruit extra doctors to keep the two wards going.
Mr Harsent said:"Money was not an issue here. First, the Regional Health Authority, which controls the flow of doctors that go through the system, said no.
"Then we could not get approval for training, which is an ongoing part of the job.
"We will be providing extra rooms for parents and we have extra space we can open up to accommodate patients."
East Berkshire Community Health Council, the health watchdog, says the move will put extra pressure on one hospital and parents who will have to travel further to visit patients.
Chief officer Susan Hanns said: "But the real impact will be on accident and emergency services, because every child that goes to casualty has to be seen by a paediatrician."
The trust will make a final decision on the merger after consultation finishes this week.
Extract Advertiser News & Advertising 07/06/1995

 

MP Under Pressure Over Hospital U-Turn

Campaigners are calling on Bracknell MP Andrew MacKay to condemn the shock decision by the local public watch dog group to support cuts at Heatherwood Hospital.
So far the MP has merely said that he is 'digesting the East Berkshire Community Health Council resolution and that he will be looking carefully at the situation.
But Jerry Glynn, chairman of the Heatherwood Advisory Group campaigning to save services, said: "I've written to him and told him that it is his duty as a constituency MP to come out with a strong statement condemning the CHC's change of decision.
If he doesn't then we will have to go on fighting the battle without him."
This is the first clear indication that relations between HAG and Mr MacKay, which have been friendly up to now, might be breaking under the strain of the CHC decision last week.
Approval by the CHC gives local health bosses a mandate to carry out sweeping cuts to Heatherwood's accident and emergency and maternity departments, despite the opposition of 40,000 residents who had signed a petition.
On two previous occasions the CHC, the local public watchdog, had thrown the plans out and it had been widely expected that they would do the same again and that Virginia Bottomley would intervene.
Critics in other quarters have accused Mr MacKay, a Tory government whip, of failing to use his influence to get the Department of Health to intervene in the Heatherwood furore, despite the MPs insistence that he was doing everything that he could.
Speaking to the TIMES last Friday, Mr MacKay said: "I am digesting the recommendations of the Community Health Council, particularly the important five provisos they have placed on their conditional approval of the proposals. I will be monitoring carefully the health commission's response and liaising with all interested groups with a view to getting the best possible NHS care for my constituents.
"It wasn't what they (the CHC) intended previously but they've been looking at all the options.
"I will still be making representations to Virginia Bottomley to see if she is satisfied with the proposals. I can't see that she'll come up with anything different from the CHC but it's worth a try."
And he added: "I'm still shocked that so many of my constituents writing to me or ringing me up think that Heatherwood Hospital is being closed which is the opposite of the truth because further funds are being made available to upgrade beds and operating theatres.
"We must have and do have in Heatherwood an excellent local hospital which will continue to treat a high proportion of cases.
What is in question is how many paediatric and, in some cases, casualty cases are dealt with there rather than Wexham Park."
Extract Bracknell Times 15/06/1995

 

Company Backs Campaign

A group fighting for better healthcare in Bracknell has been given a £1,000 cash boost by a local company.
The Heatherwood Advisory Group (HAG), which was set up last year to fight for services at the Ascot hospital, got the donation from Ethyl Petroleum Additives.
Pat New, human resources manager at the firm's 200-staff Eurotech headquarters in Bracknell, said: "Ethyl shares the community's concern that Bracknell's needs are met in terms of a local hospital with accident and emergency facilities.
"As a responsible care company, Ethyl is committed to supporting the local community where many of the company's employees and their families live."
Extract Bracknell Times 22/06/1995

 

CHC Chief Target of Hate Mail

The chief executive of the local public health watchdog group says a hate mail campaign has been launched against her because of cuts at Heatherwood Hospital.
Sue Hann, who heads the East Berkshire Community Council (CHC), revealed that she has been sent nearly 400 letters by residents furious about the cuts to the accident and emergency and maternity departments.
"Some people suggest that I'm not even a human being. It's tough going when you get that thrown at you. They felt that we were the architects of the proposals," Ms Hann said.
Other protesters have harassed the chief executive with angry phone calls even though she does not have a vote on the CHC and was not responsible for the final CHC decision.
The CHC has come under heavy flak since its recent controversial move to back the changes at Heatherwood despite massive opposition from local councils and over 40,000 residents.
It has been accused of betraying the public and having a radical change of heart for no justifiable reason.
In a statement issued on Tuesday (June 20) the CHC defended its decision claiming that was merely facing up to reality.
The crux of its argument is that the changes were going to be forced through on safety grounds in July anyway and that if they hadn't sided with local health bosses then Virginia Bottomley could have made even farther reaching cuts.
"The proposals were already being implemented with or without the support of the CHC and the public, the CHC said.
"Keeping the decision at the local level with the door left open for further dialogue is far more constructive than referring the matter to ministers for decision to be made remotely.
"It was with extreme reluctance that the CHC came to their decision, particularly so as they were all too aware of the strong public opinion against a clear reduction in service at Heatherwood.
Extract Bracknell Times 22/06/1995

 

Must Do Better

By Kristiina Cooper
The government's hospital tables reveal that Heatherwood and Wexham Park Trust is near the bottom of the league in achieving key waiting time targets set out in the patients charter.
Only four out of the 41 hospitals in the Anglia and Oxford region had a worse track record than Heatherwood and Wexham Park for treating outpatients within 30 minutes of their appointment time.
Last year the hospital treated 80% of out-patients within 30 minutes.
Top of the league was North West Anglia Healthcare with a success rate of 94%.
Similarly, the accident and emergency department did better than only four other hospitals in the region and assessed 84% of patients within five minutes of their arrival.
Two hospitals in the region managed to assess 100% of patients within five minutes.
But the news for the trust was not all bad.
It out-performs most hospitals in dealing with a high percentage of trauma and orthopaedic cases within 26 weeks of a doctors recommendation.
And in 13 other categories it achieved the top five star rating.
Officials greeted the results with optimism and said that Heatherwood has improved its performance in the last year. But they acknowledged that the trust under-performed in some key areas.
Chief executive Frank Collins said: "We do still have some challenges to face up to and I know that we can positively respond to these."
Bracknell's Labour county councillor, Mandy Williams, has dismissed the validity of the Government's league tables.
She said: "Looking at these tables you would never understand that hospitals like Heatherwood are facing regular crisis trying to deal with increased accident and emergency referrals."
Extract Bracknell Times 13/07/1995

 

Going Out, Fete's Fairs

SUNDAY, JULY 30.
2pm. Ward 15, Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot. Summertime Fete. Supervised Kids' Corner. Beat the Buzz, Hitta Duck, Obstacle races, stalls, including bric-a-brac, white elephant, raffles, barbecue, tea bar.
Extract Ascot & Bracknell & Wokingham Times 20/07/1995

 

New Intensive Care Unit For babies

by Health Reporter Zoe Zarkos
HOSPITAL staff are celebrating the opening of a new £600,000 intensive care unit for babies.
Wexham Park Hospital's Neonatal Unit has space for 25 new-born babies and also offers six rooms for parents to stay overnight.
The unit, representing a significant increase in the hospital's range of paediatric facilities, will provide care mainly for premature babies and those with breathing difficulties, holes in the heart and other conditions.
It has been set up to take the pressure off Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot which has suffered from shortages in paediatric staff.
The unit has four different types of cots providing varied levels of care dependent on the babies' needs.
The majority of Heatherwood's paediatric staff have been transferred to Wexham to work at the new centre.
Wexham's Paediatric Clinical Director Dr Jenny Cowen said: "We are absolutely delighted with these new facilities which will support the high levels of clinical care that the paediatric team have always given.
"Any parent considering having their baby at Wexham Park is most welcome to come along and see the new unit."
To celebrate the opening hospital staff are holding a picnic for ex-patients, friends and family at the Ascot United Football Club at noon on Sunday.
Those wishing to view the unit should contact the hospital on 01753 633000.
Extract Advertiser News & Advertising 26/07/1995

 

Baby Care Unit Closes Down

Dark Day For Healthcare in Bracknell
by Charles Nelson
The Special Care Baby Unit at Heatherwood Hospital has shut its doors for the last time despite a massive campaign to save it. Residents and local councils had vigorously campaigned to keep the unit open since local health chiefs announced plans to move it Wexham Park Hospital in Slough last year.
There is widespread resentment at the transfer, especially amongst local fundraisers who over the years have collected thousands of pounds for equipment at the unit.
There are also fears that taking away the special care unit jeopardises safety because babies born at Heatherwood needing intensive care may have to rushed through busy traffic to Slough.
Mother-of-two Susan Campbell, of Shepherds Lane in Priestwood, Bracknell, said: "We don't seem to be listened to at all and no one seems to care.
From the point of view of children the loss of the Rainbow by Charle Ward and the special care baby unit means that Bracknell doesn't have a hospital anymore."
Staff and equipment from the closed Heatherwood unit will now form part of an enlarged neo-natal unit at Wexham Park, which has cots for up to 25 children and cost £600,000 to install.
The new Slough unit was given an upbeat opening by 3 hospital trust bosses on July 19 who are keen to get their message across about the benefits of centralising the service in one high-tech centre.
But campaigners say they will only remember July 19 as a "dark day" for health care in the Bracknell area.
The maternity and accident and emergency departments were also trimmed back and the Rainbow Ward was axed.
From now on only low-risk pregnancies will be sent to Heatherwood and Bracknell mothers deemed to be high risk will now have to go to Wexham Park or another hospital in the region.
Borough councillor Don Veakins, a vice-chairman of the Heatherwood Advisory Group (HAG), said: "People are devastated that this sort of thing could happen and fundraisers are most upset.
"When you give something in good faith you do expect it to be lost.
It was given to Heatherwood and no other hospital.
"But the issue of Heatherwood is far from dead. We must have the services reinstated in due course.
HAG is still looking for an acceptable solution.
Trust spokesperson Jackie Lawton insisted: "The use of the equipment in the neo-natal unit will be for the use of Bracknell families and those in the trust's catchment area. "For any funds that have been raised for the special care baby unit, especially in recent times, it has been explained to people that the equipment will be based at Wexham.
" And Dr Jenny Cowen, paediatric clinical director at Wexham Park, said: "We are absolutely delighted at these new facilities which will support the high levels of clinical care that the paediatric team have always given."
She said that any parent considering having their baby at Wexham Park is welcome to visit the neo-natal unit and should contact the hospital to arrange a time.
Attached to the unit are special rooms with communal cooking facilities for parents to stay in while who have a baby in intensive care.
A picnic is being held at 12 noon on July 30 in the grounds of Ascot football club to mark the closure of the unit at Heatherwood.
Sister Sylvia Kealoha said: "Staff thought it would be a lovely idea to have a picnic party with as many ex-patients and their families
Extract Bracknell Times 27/07/1995

 

Health Watch Dog Group Comes Under fire

The decision by the local public health watchdog group to support cuts in services at Heatherwood Hospital has been condemned by Berkshire County Council.
The East Berkshire Community Health Council (CHC) caused a storm last month when it agreed to back a scheme put forward by local health chiefs to trim back the hospital's accident and emergency and maternity departments.
The CHC move ignited a wave of opposition from campaigners and local councils, although Bracknell MP Andrew MacKay refused to condemn it.
At a recent meeting, county councillors added a united voice to the uproar by also slamming the CHC decision. And they pledged their support for the work of the Heatherwood Advisory Group.
Binfield county councillor Mandy Williams, who tabled a motion against the cuts, said: "The people of East Berkshire are totally bewildered that these changes can take place despite the opposition of local people and all the local councils.
"At the moment the Heatherwood Advisory Group and their consultants HACAS offer the only chance local people have of maintaining and restoring these vital services.
"It is essential we support their work especially as these changes will have impact on our own services."
Also at the meeting, Great Hollands county councillor Alan Winter accused the CHC of letting the people of East Berkshire down by not holding any public meetings specifically on Heatherwood.
He said the CHC should have referred the cut-back plans to the Secretary of State.
Extract Bracknell Times 27/07/1995

 

NHS Services Face The Chop

Sweeping cuts in NHS services in Berkshire being proposed by health chiefs as a way of making up a massive £7million cash shortfall have been condemned by hospital campaigners.
According to a Berkshire Health Commission document leaked to TIMES reporter Charles Nelson, funding could be withdrawn for various NHS treatments, such as varicose veins, children's grommets, wisdom teeth and IVF (fertility) treatment.
And further changes could be in the pipeline at Heatherwood Hospital, which only recently had its accident and emergency and maternity departments trimmed back.
The multi-million pound NHS funding deficit arose after the commission discovered in May that it did not have enough in its coffers to buy services off hospital trusts in Berkshire.
And in a bid to meet the shortfall it published the leaked document, '1996-97 Financial Recovery' pinpointing areas where savings could be made. The report states that the case for the Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals Trust be reviewed again as cost savings promised for year one (1995-96) not realised".
Other proposals in the report include limiting ultra-sound scanning for Down's Syndrome and abnormalities to one per pregnancy to be taken at 12 weeks.
Tattoo removal, sex changes, breast reductions and enlargements and sterilisation reversals are also on the proposed hit-list and the continuation of funding for HIV AIDS research is to be reviewed.
And a shake-up in the way acute beds are managed is on the cards with plans to merge specialised wards.
Binfield county councillor Mandy Williams said: "These proposals represent an unacceptable reduction in services for local people. Clearly NHS services in Berkshire are under-funded or mismanaged. "Infertility, varicose veins operations and wisdom tooth removal are available in other areas and they should be made available in Berkshire too.
"I am extremely anxious for Heatherwood Hospital. If the business plan for Heatherwood and Wexham Park is to be looked at again it is inevitable that Heatherwood will suffer.
"It seems that the Health Service is approaching crisis in Berkshire.
These proposals are extreme and smack of crisis management. The NHS service is supposed to be a national service.
And campaigner Jerry Glynn, chairman of the Heatherwood Advisory Group, put the onus on local MPs to ensure that the cuts do not go ahead.
"The people of this area should not have to suffer because of the inefficiency of the commission. It's up to the MPs to show that they really mean business by going back to the Secretary of State to fund the cuts so that they don't happen.
Bracknell MP Andrew MacKay said Berkshire should get a bigger slice of the region's health care funding and that action was being taken to ensure that this happened.
But he said he had no objection to cosmetic surgery being taken off the NHS. "I'm anti-cosmetic surgery being done on the NHS except under extreme circumstances.
I object hugely as a taxpayer to having someone's tattoo removed. The NHS is about medical care.'"
However, he insisted there were other treatments on the list should remain within the realm on NHS care, such as for varicose veins and wisdom teeth. Health commission spokesman David Rowson stressed that nothing would be finalised until early autumn.
"We have to address the financial deficit and have obviously got to review certain areas.
"We've been in discussions with GPs and trusts and the idea is to highlight areas which we feel could be reviewed. That's all it is at this stage and no decisions will be made until September when the health commission will meet.
"The difficulty with the NHS is that there is unlimited demand and we have finite resources in which to meet that demand", he said.
He said the commission will be obliged to carry out a public consultation if major changes were agreed. A spokesperson for the Heatherwood and Wexham trust said: "All the ideas on the table are for full debate and to decide which, if any, of the options are feasible for implementation."
She said the trust believed that the planned £17 million investment in Heatherwood Hospital would not be affected.
Extract Ascot & Bracknell & Wokingham Times 24/08/1995

 

Unity Can Save The Day

In July 1994 I read the purchasing strategy document of the Berkshire Health Authority and on listening to various rumours and public statements, I realised that the 1989/90 battle for Heatherwood Hospital, which we thought we had won, was only held in the background until the massive opposition of that time had been lulled into a false sense of security.
The Heatherwood Action Group, which is a totally non-party political organisation, was set up by local people, concerned at the threat to their hospital.
The sole aim of the group is to prevent the loss of acute services at Heatherwood Hospital. The group is delighted to recognise the very obvious signs of unity between the various political parties in their opposition to the Berkshire Health Authority plans concerning Heatherwood.
Heatherwood is very dear to the hearts of our local population and it is a matter of great joy and most heartening to see such a development.
All the political parties have put the hospital first and joined with us to keep Heatherwood as our hospital with full acute services for our fast growing population.
In this regards the local politicians and party members are to be congratulated since in other areas such unity has saved the day for other hospitals.
Jerry Glynn, Chairman, Ringwood Close, South Ascot. HAG,
Extract Ascot & Bracknell & Wokingham Times 31/08/1995

 

MP to Probe £7m Health Cash Crises

Councillors claim the most vulnerable members of society will have to bear the brunt of proposed NHS cuts in Berkshire.
They say a £7million cash short-fall this year could result in a radical scrapping of NHS treatments, less hospital beds, job losses and longer waiting lists for operations. And there are also concerns that the deficit will mean further reviews for Heatherwood and other hospitals as well as stagnation for mental health care.
Worried Wokingham MP, John Redwood, said he would be taking the matter up with the Health Commission before its meeting on September 26
The matter became the focus of national attention after a document, leaked to the Wokingham, Bracknell and Crowthorne TIMES, showed that sweeping cuts were on the cards because of the budget shortfall.
The document, sent to GPs for their views, was drawn up by the commission after it discovered in May that it did not have enough money in its coffers to buy the usual services from the hospital trusts.
The commission suggests scrapping or limiting a whole range of treatments, such as wisdom teeth extraction, removing varicose veins and fertility treatment, which can cost thousands of pounds to get done privately.
Also on the cards is a possible end to the school nursing service, limiting scans for pregnant women to just one at 12 weeks and a review of funding for HIV work If approved, it is said that the treatment cuts would be the most far-reaching ever carried out in any county.
Also suggested is a look at further cost savings for Heatherwood in Ascot which only recently had its acute services trimmed back.
The NHS Support Federation (NHSSF) estimates that up to 300 jobs could be lost in the county's health service as a result of the proposals.
Binfield county councillor, Mandy Williams, has now written to health secretary Stephen Dorrell urging him to launch an inquiry into the situation. She claimed the proposals on the table are the first case in the country of "rationing" in the NHS.
"One of the problems is that the quangos that run the health service see shortage of funds as a financial problem to be overcome and do not see it as their role to criticise the decisions that have left them short of money," she claimed.
"The Health Commission are in a catch-22 situation. If they try to recoup money by adjusting contract prices with hospitals then the hospitals may take them to arbitration again.
"If rationing is to occur then the government should have a full debate on what should be provided under the NHS and what should not.
Arbitrary decisions based on financial costs should not be made." Michael Walker of the NHSSF said: "Mr Dorrell must intervene now and stop Berkshire Health Commission destroying the NHS in the county."
Berkshire county councillor Peter Ruheman, chair of the council's social services committee, said: "Of a lot of concern to Wokingham people will be what might happen to the acute hospitals in Reading Royal Berkshire and Battle. "Since before 1983 the plan has been to merge these two hospitals and the plans have advanced quite a long way.
"But these latest papers say that even further savings will be imposed on this which is going to mean further bed reductions and longer waiting times."
A commission spokesman said: "A range of options are being looked at to deal with the £7 million shortfall."
Extract Bracknell Times 07/09/1995

 

Families Boost for Patients

Two families have helped improve life for patients in Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot. Ann Stock and her daughter-in-law presented new bed tables in memory of Mrs Stock's father "Pop" Strugwell, while Mrs Carey and her, daughter Jackie did the same-in memory of Mrs Carey's late father Bert Philpott. The ladies of the Women's Royal Voluntary Service trolley shop at Heatherwood presented the remaining 24 tables to the 30-bed ward three.
The bed tables feature an automatic locking mechanism which makes them safer and easier to adjust.
Extract Bracknell Times 05/10/1995

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.
The photo captioned:"The new bed tables are presented to Heatherwood by WRVS members and Mrs Carey and Mrs Stock".
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photo here.

 

Labour Women Square Up for Battle

Two women will be having a high-noon showdown after being shortlisted to fight for the role as labour party candidate for the new Bracknell parliamentary seat.
Boundary changes have meant that the former East Berkshire seat now covers just Bracknell, Crowthorne, Sandhurst and Finchampstead.
The rest of the former constituency, about 35,000 voters, now come under the new Windsor seat.
Candidates Cllr Anne Snelgrove of Firlands, Harmanswater, and Cllr Mandy Williams of Terrace Road, Binfield, were chosen out of 25 prospective candidates.
They are both well known county councillors for Bracknell wards and have made their presence felt in campaigns such as the saving of Heatherwood Hospital and the provision of Nursery classes.
Final selection procedure for the role as labour candidate for the next general election takes place on October 21 at midday.
Dick Smith, chairman of the Labour constituency party, said: "We think we have the best chance now of winning the seat for labour. We had a lot of candidates from far afield applying, however, we decided on candidates who were familiar with the local issues and who live in the constituency."
Anne Snelgrove, 38, whose husband Mike works at Bracknell College, is currently county councillor for Easthampstead and was brought up in Bracknell.
She joined the Labour party in 1982 and is currently heavily involved with issues concerning education.
The former school teacher has acted as vice chairman on Berkshire County Council's education committee since 1994 and has campaigned for more nursery education funding in the area.
Anne speaking of her candidature, said: "The Labour party could make a difference in the area.
This is the best chance we have ever had of winning a seat to represent Bracknell voters." Anne campaigned actively against the proposed M3/M4 link road through Bracknell in 1989/90. She is also now campaigning for the restoration of NHS dentists in Bracknell.
Candidate Mandy Williams, 40, (pictured) is married with three young children who attend local schools.
She became a parish councillor for Binfield in 1991 and joined Berkshire County Council in 1993.
"I am probably best known in the local area for my fight against the NHS cuts. I campaigned against the proposed reduction in services at Heatherwood hospital which was to include the closure of the accident and emergency and children's wards.
Mandy has formed the Berkshire health and emergency organisation to fight against the proposed seven million pound cuts in health services in Berkshire.
"The biggest problem people face today in their lives is security.
Services have declined and people are finding it difficult to find jobs.
I once worked at Bracknell Job Club and know the awful feeling people face when they are unemployed," said Mandy.
The two candidates are busy preparing for the final selection showdown and following on from the local elections last year, the Labour party are confident of increasing support from the the public.
Extract Bracknell Times 12/10/1995

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.
The photo captioned:"Mandy Williams".
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photo here.

 

Anger Over Pregnant Women Sent To Slough

Leading health campaigners have slammed Berkshire Health Commission after reports that a number of pregnant mothers have had to transfer themselves from hospital during labour.
Cuts in the maternity service provided at Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot have led to high risk pregnancy cases being dealt with only at Wexham Park Hospital.
According to Binfield county councillor and leading campaigner Mandy Williams, several mothers who have become high risk patients at short notice have not been provided with an ambulance for the 14-mile journey to Wexham Park in Slough.
"One woman who entered Heatherwood in labour had some complications. She was told she would have to be treated at Wexham Park and staff at the hospital asked if her husband could drive her there.
"The couple didn't even know how to get to Wexham Park.
I want to know if ambulances are available or not for transfers," said Cllr Williams.
Spokeswoman for Heatherwood Jackie Lawton said the hospital had recorded no difficulties with transfers during the current contract with the ambulance service.
"There are very few transfers from Heatherwood. We have dealt with only five transfer cases since July and there is no problem with the ambulance service.
"Our pre-screening is working out extremely well. We have had more numbers than we anticipated coming to Wexham but that is not a problem," she said. The government recently announced £6 million to help boost falling services in Berkshire.
However, members of Berkshire Health Commission have said the cuts to Heatherwood's maternity unit will not affect the standard of service provided.
Maude Storey, vice-president of the Royal College of Nursing, said: "Every time I have read about the decision it is referred to as a downgrading of the service. This is wrong-the expert in normal childbirth is the midwife, with a consultant needed only in abnormal cases.
"This change might well result in a far superior service because the consultant is spread too widely."
Cllr Williams has criticised what she claims is an insensitive approach to the cuts at Heatherwood by the Berkshire Health Commission saying that members are out of touch with the needs of the local community.
"The question at Heatherwood is that women who want to have their babies there cannot because the unit now has the capacity to deal with only half as many births," said Cllr Williams.
The Chairman of Heatherwood Advisory Group Jerry Glynn has also criticised the decision to treat only low risk mothers at the hospital.
"They will only take low risk patients where there is unlikely to be any sort of problem. Quite a high percentage of low risk mothers become high risk.
"Services should be centralised in the Bracknell and Ascot area. This is one of the highest growth areas in the country which means a lot of young mothers," said Mr Glynn.
Ms Lawton said that the commission is currently monitoring services and ambulance transfer rates at the maternity unit until 1997.
Extract Bracknell Times 14/12/1995

 

Missed Date Symptom of Hospital Cuts

A Leading Labour councillor has added his voice to the growing concern about travel between Heatherwood and Wexham Park hospitals after his wife missed a crucial hospital appointment.
Borough councillor Patrick Ryan had to drive his wife to Wexham Park in Slough for the treatment she needed but missed an appointment after they were stuck in a traffic jam.
Cllr Ryan's wife, Vicky, who is a town councillor, is currently recovering from an operation to remove a tumour. Cuts in services at Heatherwood have led to many outpatients having to travel the long distance to Wexham Park in Slough.
Traffic from Heatherwood to Wexham Park is also set be hindered by thousands of cars which will travel to the Legoland complex due to open around Easter 1996.
The Winkfield Road which is the main route to the complex has had a 40mph speed restriction extended along the road and a new roundabout built at the entrance to the site. Cllr Ryan said he and his wife were stuck for half-an-hour in traffic at Legoland which is built on the former site of Windsor Safari Park.
"We weren't moving and eventually it became clear that we weren't going to make the appointment.
"My wife was feeling a bit stressful so we came home and rang the hospital. They said they would be in touch for another appointment but they haven't been", said Cllr Ryan.
According to Cllr Ryan, who is chairman of Bracknell Pensioners Association, Heatherwood Hospital should be built as a local all-round facility.
"There clearly is a problem of transport between Wexham and Heatherwood. It is becoming a danger.
For pensioners travelling under these conditions it is like climbing a mountain," said Cllr Ryan.
Plans were made two years ago to centralise some of the services of Heatherwood and Wexham which caused outrage and led to a massive campaign.
Extract Bracknell Times 21/12/1995