Heatherwood Hospital 1980

Christmas Day Babies

The smiles on these two proud young mum's faces say it all.
There could have been no better Yuletide present than the birth of their baby boys on Christmas Day.
The two Bracknell women gave birth to their babies at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital in time for the Christmas festivities.

Extract Bracknell Times 03/01/1980

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by two photos.
Here Mrs Lorraine Myall of Great Hollands (pictured left) cuddles her Christmas baby David who weighed in at a healthy 6lbs 15oz while there is a special hug for little James Craske from his mum Denise of Great Hollands (pictured right). James tipped the scales at 7lb 9/2oz.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photos here.

 

The New Year- Half Dozen

The New Year came bouncing in at Heatherwood Hospital where staff were kept busy with six first day babies.
Mrs Christine Coleman, of Goodways Drive, in Bracknell, was the first proud mum of the year when her daughter was born at 33 minutes past midnight.
Tiny Vikki Louise weighed into 1980 at 8lb 1oz. The noises from seasonal parties had barely hushed when Mrs Helen Davies gave birth to a boy.
Mrs Davies, of Walbury, Harmans Water, Bracknell, has not chosen a name for her son yet but he was born at 4.35am and weighed 7lb 14oz.
Extract Bracknell Times 03/01/1980

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by two photos.
Mrs Christine Coleman with Vikki Louise. Mrs Helen Davies with her son.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photos here.

 

Nurses 'not happy' with their new pay deal

Nurses at Heatherwood Hospital are not happy with the size of their recent pay award, according to a senior shop steward at the Ascot hospital.
But there is no fear that they will take any protest action, said Mr S. W. Hooker, who represents nurses, sisters, and administrators at Heatherwood who belong to the Managerial, Administrative, Technical and Supervisory Association (MATSAY).
"I don't think they are very pleased about the pay award," he said. "But, knowing nurses, none of them will leave their jobs they just won't stand up for themselves and they are traditionally non-militant.
"The Clegg Commission has given the biggest rises to the people at the top, and the lower paid workers have hardly got anything.
But I don't think recruitment will be noticeably affected because nurses are so dedicated." Nursing Officer Mr Peter Milledge said it was too early to predict the repercussions of the Clegg recommendations: "Most nurses don't really know what the pay award will mean to them personally beyond the general figures.
Nothing
"Sisters seem to have got a reasonable rise compared with everyone else, but some senior officers have received nothing at all.
"Any rise which doesn't come up to expectations can have an adverse effect on recruitment.
This current rise might persuade a few sisters to stay on right up until their retirement date instead of giving up early, but I don't think it will encourage people who are coming into the profession."
Mr Peter Dance, Berkshire officer for the health service section of the National Union of Public Employees said: "It is disappointing that the commission's report has in no way met the staff side case that nurses should be paid a professional salary commensurate with male professional rates elsewhere.
Concerned
"We are particularly concerned at the low level increases recommended on the bottom nursing grades particularly student nurses, nursing auxiliaries and the bottom level scales for enrolled nurses and staff nurses.
"We are also very concerned that protection of the new salaries scales against future erosion has been left to the Whitley Council.
Given the government's current policies on public expenditure this is a recipe for disaster.
Extract Bracknell Times 17/01/1980

 

Bed-time for lions at last

It took Bracknell Lists two years to beat manufacturer's delays so that Heatherwood Hospital could ea the rewards of their fund raising, but the result was worth the effort.
For members of the Lions Club have now presented the hospital with a multi-position bed bought with money the club has raised in 1978.
Lions president Mr Clive Wilkinson said the bed, which cost £600, had taken so long to arrive because the manufacture needed special parts for it.
"We also had some VAT problems and we thought we would never get the bed to the hospital but we have finally made it.
The money came from our 1978 sponsored pub crawl." Other Lions gifts to Heatherwood have included a heart monitoring machine and a blood group analyser.
Extract Bracknell Times 31/01/1980

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by one photo.
Heatherwood administrator Mr Derek Fairman (left) receives the orthopaedic bed from Lions president Mr Clive Wilkinson.
With them are Sister Susan Duke and Lions members.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photo here.

 

Health councils 'lethal machines'

The East Berkshire Community Health Council has come under fire from Sunninghill councillors.
The parish finance committee was asked to give their views on the CHC's future on Tuesday night.
Parish council chairman George Jarrett was quick to give his opinion: "I would like to see this body squashed they are a nuisance.
They are lay people trying to get in and analyse the surgical table and trying to accuse medical people of ineffective performance.
"They have attacked the hospitals rather than try and sort something out it's an absolutely lethal machine and I would like to see it disposed of, to my mind it is dangerous." One move by the CHC which has proved unpopular with parish councils throughout the area is a plan to move facilities from Heatherwood Hospital to the proposed new hospital in Bracknell.
Coun Stephen Charkham said: "I would like to see members of the public on the CHC rather than those who have an axe to grind I feel it has not worked as it should."
East Berks CHC secretary Miss Juliet Mattinson said: "We are trying to move Heatherwood Hospital to Bracknell, and I think that move is the problem.
The CHC has been involved in some unpopular moves but we have the interests of the patients at heart.
"We have had lots of letters of support in the move to Bracknell."
Extract Bracknell Times 14/02/1980

 

Swim star in accident

Swimming star David Wilkie surprised staff at Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot recently when he turned up late at night with a broken nose and finger.
Apparently the Olympic gold medallist had been involved in an accident with his luxury Porsche car but no one else was involved.
David, who is now 25 and works for the Sports Council was able to go back to his North Ascot home
Extract Bracknell Times 14/02/1980

 

Berks Set for lead in the year of the baby boom

By Abbie Enock
Britain looks set for a booming baby year, with Berkshire in the top league of the birth stakes.
From 1978 to 1979 there was a 10 per cent increase in the number of births in the county, which is above the national average. And the rate of increase is expected to rise over the coming year.
A spokesman for Berkshire Area Health Authority said the county had a high birth rate because of the structure of the population, putting it in the country's top sector.
"There are more young women in places like Berkshire than in the country as a whole and it's an affluent area," said the spokesman.
Reasons
He added that precise reasons for the boom were difficult to pinpoint.
"It's been established that women who put off having children until they are older, are now having them, a lot of the increase is because women over 30 are producing children," he said. "Also the grim economic conditions in the last few years have a bearing.
Because these conditions have not got better people have had children anyway, instead of waiting for things to improve."
The year 1977 saw a low in births, with 9,137 being born in the area, and many thought this would be a continuing trend.
But the following year 9,600 were born and in 1979 there were 10,947 new babies. The spokesman said a new extension was being built on to the maternity unit at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital.
Consultants wanted more room to work in as they found themselves under pressure because more women wanted babies.
And there are also plans for a new maternity wing to open in 1984 at Slough's Wexham Park Hospital.
But in general maternity services will not be under too much pressure because of the baby boom, said the spokesman.
Berkshire County Council expects the birth rate to go on rising until the mid-1980s and after that to level off.
Does the baby boom spell good news for the toy business? Wokingham's Ideal Toy Company marketing manager, Mr Phillip Gibb, said they were pleased, but a rising birth rate did not necessarily mean an increase in demand for toys.
Extract Evening Post 28/02/1980

 

Ken Thomas Body Scanner Appeal

Small Extract of article 'Registered now the appeal will boom by Geraldine Brennan ':-Contributions in the past week have included £104 raised by Sunninghill members of the Trefoil Guild in a jumble sale, £767 from a Mother's Day Spring Fair in Crowthorne and £200 from Heatherwood Hospital staff, who held a collection at a staff concert to raise money for the hospital's own funds.
Extract Bracknell Times 20/03/1980

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by two photos.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photos here.

 

Heatherwood saves bacon

Health Chiefs have saved their own bacon by going Continental at breakfast time in Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital.
Patients can no longer wake up to a traditional morning meal of bacon and egg due to public service cuts.
Instead they now tuck into a Continental breakfast of hot roll and coffee.
In a bid to prune spending, Berkshire's health chiefs have decided to scrap full-scale breakfasts and plan to save thousands of pounds in the process.
And so far hospital cooks have not been left with egg on their faces, with the new look menu getting the thumbs-ups from patients.
Heatherwood's catering manager Mr David Ross said: "It's not ideal but it's, acceptable.
I would like to see a better breakfast but in these days of cut backs it's a bit much to have all of it.
"I visit the wards regularly to note comments and nobody has said anything adverse yet.
"We have been able to up the standards quite a bit, and the rest of the day's meals are. Improving" well as the hot roll and As coffee, patients can also choose from cereals, porridge and egg dishes.
Hospital administrator, Mr Derek Fairman said: "These Continental meals have always been on the menu and seem to be quite popular.
The patients can still have cereals and the catering manager seems to be quite happy."
Short
East Berks district management team chairman Dr Jeremy Cobb said: "We have been working towards this for some time.
We have gradually reduced the size of the breakfast menu because it is not necessary "People come into the hospital for a short time only and don't need great big breakfasts."
Rumblings of discontent over the standard of catering at Heatherwood Hospital have subsided since Mr Boss took over control in January.
At one stage patients were openly in revolt over the quality of meals served up in the wards.
Mr Ross said: "I noted the bad feeling when I came here and I can safely say the ship is back on an even keel it is definitely better now. "Now our ambition is to get back into the Egon Ronay guide! The East Berks Area Health Authority are presently labouring with programme which leaves them over spending by about a million pounds Government pressure means the cuts have to be made.
So far 50 beds at the Canadian Red Cross Hospital near Maidenhead have been axed.
The Farnham Park rehabilitation centre Bracknell people have to use it for therapy is also on the chopping block
Also nurses have won a shorter working week of 37% hours which in turn will mean a bigger pay roll for the area health authority
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 27/03/1980

 

Miss E. C. Key

Miss Eleanor Cartwright Key, of High Street, Bicker, has died in Rauceby Hospital, Sleaford, where she had been resident for the past few years. She was 87.
A spinster, Miss Key was born in Bicker and was the last survivor of a family of eight.
She pursued a nursing career an became matron at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot. During the war, Miss Key was in territorial nursing service and matron at a number of hospitals, including West Africa.
She survived torpedo sinking of her troopship and was awarded the decoration of the "Royal Red Cross".
The funeral at Bicker parish church last Friday week was followed by cremation.
Extract Lincolnshire Free Press 01/04/1980

 

Dispute Holds Up baby Ward

By Stephen Double
A brand new £55,000 maternity unit has lain unused for more than three months at Heatherwood Hospital due to a dispute over staffing and equipment.
Berkshire area health chiefs feel the unit completed last September has been ready to use since January, but a consultant is holding out for better staffing levels and extra machinery before agreeing to work in it.
A leading health official said the summer's mini baby boom could cause headaches if the dispute is not resolved.
The consultant, gynaecologist and obstetrician Mr Nicholas Trickey, wants more midwives to staff the unit and a special monitoring machine before agreeing to use the unit.
Now the Berkshire Area Health Authority has stepped up a midwife recruiting campaign in a bid to get the unit opened.
Area medical officer Dr Peter Dixon said: "The difficulty is over whether enough midwives are employed to open the extra beds.
"The issue is that the consultant wants to wait until more midwives are recruited.
"The district management team has felt since January that there were sufficient mid- wives, but the consultant doesn't agree.
Bed
"At the moment everybody is being found a bed somewhere, but there looks like being a lot of pressure in June and July when there tends to be a baby boom.
"We recognise the differences between us. We are going to get figures from other regions to justify our case.
We are improving midwife recruitment but not as quickly as we would like."
Mr Trickey declined to comment on the situation.
But it is understood that he wants to hold out until the ten new beds in the unit have enough midwives and a heart monitoring machine.
At the moment there are five heart machines at Heatherwood which are used to take a baby's pulse while it is still in the womb.
Mr Trickey has one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the country, and wishes to ensure that high standards in the general maternity ward are kept up.
Meetings between Mr Trickey and area health chiefs in recent weeks have failed to resolve the problem.
East Berks district management chairman Dr Jeremy Cobb said: "He doesn't feel he can compromise his high standards.
We dispute that.
"Mr Trickey wants things to be ideal rather than a realistic set up.
We are desperately short of money.
Afford
"We have more nursing staff than we have ever had before at Heatherwood.
Mr Trickey wants this extra heart machine and there are already five at the hospital we just can't afford it.
Hospital's Heatherwood chief administrator Mr Derek Fairman said: "From Mr Trickey's point of view he wants the equipment, and we could do with some extra staff.
"Mr Trickey wants the best for his patients and until he receives that he is taking a firm stand.
"I can see the situation from both points of view he wants the best for his patients and we could use the extra beds."
Extract Bracknell Times 03/04/1980

 

Union Warning On Health Closure

Plans to close the Farnham Park rehabilitation centre near Slough could seriously affect Bracknell patients, a hospital union official has warned.
Mr Tony Onyewu, the National Union of Public Employees' representative for East Berks hospitals, says the facilities of the £300,000 centre could not be replaced at Heatherwood or Wexham Park hospitals if the Oxford Regional Health Authority go through with plans to close it.
The Berkshire Area Health Authority has asked for Farnham Park to be closed on the grounds that many of its patients come from outside Berkshire and that it specialises in treating sports injuries which could be treated elsewhere.
Services
But Mr Onyewu is convinced that the centre also provides valuable services to a large section of the community who could not be treated nearer home if it were closed.
"It provides many therapeutic services including a hydrotherapy unit which I do not believe could be provided at Heatherwood or Wexham Park," he said.
"Heatherwood does not have enough room or specialist staff.
The physiotherapy unit it has now, could not cope with all the people who use Farnham Park for long-term treatment.
"Farnham Park has a slot of patients who have had strokes or muscular diseases and in many cases they need a long programme of therapy or get them back to work.
There are some people with sports injuries but that is by no means the only purpose of the centre."
Mr Onyewu has helped to compile a document which shows that Farnham Park also takes patients suffering from back pain, burns, multiple sclerosis and head injuries all people who would be at the end of a long waiting list for treatment elsewhere.
"It also provides an out of school hours extension to Heatherwood's physiotherapy unit so that children who need therapy do not have to miss school." he said.
"If someone needs therapy they need it regularly.
If Farnham Park closed the loss to patients would be enormous."
The RMA's plans for closure include the provision of 14 physiotherapist's and occupational therapists at Heatherwood and Wexham Park.
This would take up £74,000 of the £200,000 running costs that would be saved by closing Farnham Park.
But Mr Onyewu thinks the RHA would end up losing money if it tried to duplicate all Farnham Park's facilities.
And Bracknell District Council plans to ask the RHA to put off a decision on the centre's fate until a study on the need for rehabilitation services in Berkshire has been carried out.
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 03/04/1980

 

Old have To Go Further to Hospital

A GP in Sandhurst has claimed old people in the area who fall sick are "adversely affected" by having to travel further for hospital treatment than other patients.
Dr David Bryant says in a letter: "It seems wrong the elderly sick should be placed at a disadvantage compared with the rest of the community."
He has written to the East Berkshire Community Health Council complaining about the "rigidly defined" boundary system which governs where old people are treated in hospital. Sandhurst Town Council has asked Bracknell District Council to support his request for a review of the catchment area for old people, and the issue will be discussed when the district's liaison committee meets on Wednesday, April 23.
Dr Bryant says Sandhurst is in the area based on Old Windsor Hospital.
But hospitals in the South West Surrey and North East Hampshire Health District are nearer.
Old people who are acutely ill tend at present to be admitted to Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot or King Edward VII hospital in Windsor, which are eight and 14 miles away from Sandhurst.
Frimley Park Hospital is only four miles away. But elderly Sandhurst patients tend not to go there because it is outside Berkshire, while acutely ill Sandhurst people of other age groups can be treated there.
Nearer
If old people need long stay beds they have to go to Old Windsor Hospital or Upton Park Hospital, Slough instead of Fleet or Farnham Hospitals which are nearer Sandhurst.
The elderly also have to travel further than other members of the community if they need hospital assessment.
One of Dr Bryant's colleagues said: "This is quite a serious social problem.
If equally elderly relatives want to visit a patient they might have to go all the way over to Slough from Sandhurst.
It's bureaucracy."
In his letter Dr Bryant asked the Health Council to consider "the way in which the concept of a rigidly defined geriatric catchment area' is adversely affecting the elderly in Sandhurst."
Extract Evening Post 21/04/1980

 

Late Birth New Berks Maternity Centre

There is good news for pregnant mums in East Berkshire.
A brand new 10-bed maternity ward at Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, which has been lying empty several months, is set to open on June 1.
Women should no longer have to go outside the area to have their babies.
The £55,000 annexe has been idle because obstetricians refused to use it until they got extra equipment and more staff.
But at a meeting of the Berkshire Area Health Authority a Wexham Park Hospital, Slough, yesterday, area medical officer Dr Peter Dixon announced a breakthrough in talks with Heatherwood staff.
Hospital bed booking restrictions had already been imposed at Heatherwood.
And before opening the new beds, the obstetricians wanted to be sure they could keep up standards and were asking for extra midwives and a heart monitor machine which costs £6,000.
Dr Dixon said Heatherwood had borrowed a machine from the Canadian Red Cross Hospital at Taplow and the request for a new one would go to a committee.
The new maternity annexe could bring temporary relief of pressure on the Canadian hospital's maternity wards which have also had to set booking restrictions.
Extract Evening Post 21/05/1980

Comment:- The ward mentioned above was designated ward 9 in the hospital scheme. It was a grey portacabin type build on stilts attached to the maternity unit at the rear.

 

Shortage of Nurses Health Chiefs Rapped

Berkshire health chiefs have been accused of "complacency" over an alleged shortage of nurses and midwives in the county's eastern district
Members of an East Berks health service "watchdog" group claimed that nurses and midwives at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital are working under severe strain while many qualified midwives are not practising And the group's chairman called for an inquiry into recruitment and training schemes for nurses and mid wives
But yesterday district nursing officer Mrs Zenia Walker hit back at the allegations made by members of the East Berks Community Health Council
She said there had been a major improvement in the number of midwives and that as many nurses as possible were being recruited
CHC member Mrs Beverley Beech told her colleagues at the meeting "The number of qualified midwives who are not practising is appalling and both married and single midwives at that There is a need to do something quickly The situation has been like this for two years, and still there is no sign of change
Complacent
Another member Mr John Walker, said "We are told the nursing situation is getting better, but the figures show otherwise The top bodies responsible for local hospitals are complacent"
But Mrs Walker said "There has been a substantial improvement in the number of midwives over the last two years and the CHC know that Our midwifery school record at Heatherwood and the Canadian Red Cross Hospital has been pretty good since 1978
I am concerned that any member of the CHC considers that we are in any way complacent or less than vigorous in our attempts to recruit
Extract Evening Post 05/06/1980

 

Bracknell Ladies Circle

Bracknell Ladies' Circle's annual general meeting elected the following officers: Jeanette Knight, chairman; Sheila Martin, vice-chairman; Jill Tetlaw, secretary; and Maureen Webb, treasurer.
It has been decided to hold fund-raising events mainly for the benefit of the Ken Thomas Appeal and also to help buy a heart-monitoring machine for babies at Heatherwood Hospital.
Fund-raising activities will include a stall at the Bracknell Show, a Cordon Bleu cookery evening and a stall in Bracknell market.
This year's 21st anniversary will be celebrated with a dinner-dance at Monkey Island, Bray, on June 13, at which 16 of the past 21 chairmen will be present.
Extract Bracknell Times 12/06/1980

 

A Grateful Mum Aims to Help Hospital

Mother of two Gloria Simons will always be grateful for the specialist heart machine which she reckons was instrumental in the safe delivery of her second child.
So 34-year-old Mrs. Simons with the help of three other women who were in hospital with her have embarked on a major campaign to raise £5.000 to buy another vital Cardio tachograph machine for Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot.
She has dubbed her cash raising plan Help Heatherwood Have Healthy Babies.
The machine scans a mother-to-be's baby before its birth and monitors it heart beat.
Mrs. Simons says her one year-old baby son Adrian's life depended on the machine.
"I was on one of the machines nearly all of the time I was in hospital before Adrian was born. I had to have a Caesarean and he could have been born stillborn." said Mrs. Simons.
"I have had a reunion with three other mothers who were in Heatherwood when I was and we all realised how much we owed to the hospital and decided to try and buy another machine," she said.
Mrs. Simons is in the process of trying to register the appeal as a charity and then she hopes to persuade local firms to give money.
She and her husband Mike (34), who live at Caldwell Road, Windlesham, with their two children. Gamma (2) and Adrian, have arranged an onyx. picture and pottery party at their home for July 17 at 8 p.m.
They hope to have a stall at Windlesham Fete and also are trying to arrange a barbecue.
"I have only raised £25 so far. so there is a long way to go, it may take years, but I am very determined," she said.
Extract Farnborough & Aldershot News 13/06/1980

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.
The pictured featured Mrs Simons with Gamma and Adrian
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photo here.

 

Arthritis centre 'must be replaced'

Britain's top centre for the treatment of child arthritis based in the Thames Valley - must be replaced by new facilities before it is shut down, an expert has warned.
Children from all over the country are treated in the rheumatology department at Taplow's Canadian Red Cross Hospital, near Maidenhead.
And the threatened closure would be a serious blow unless new facilities for children were provided at regional level, said senior registrar Dr Margaret Byron.
Hard-up Berkshire health chiefs are considering closing the 75-bed department, headed by international authority Dr Barbara Ansell to save cash.
Dr Byron said: "I think the work done is extremely important.
"If the decision is finally made to close down that would be all right only if some sort of facilities were made available locally for children."
Dr Peter Dixon, Berkshire's area medical officer, said that if the department closed. facilities for treating adults in the east Berkshire district would be made at Wexham and Heatherwood hospitals.
But Oxford Regional Health Authority was still considering where children would be treated and if there should continue to be a national centre in the area.
Extract Evening Post 24/06/1980

 

Battle of beds for mentally ill given £4m boost

The battle to provide more hospital beds for the mentally ill in East Berkshire has been given a £4 million boost from Britain's health chiefs.
The cash originally meant for use in the last half of this decade has been forwarded to the Oxford Regional Health Authority to ease the growing crisis in East Berks.
Dr Peter Dixon, Berkshire's area medical officer, said it would provide the capital to install another 125 beds in the district.
But there may not be enough cash to run them, or other new schemes planned to ease the desperate shortage of beds.
Crisis
And now Berkshire health chiefs say it is vital they get more cash to run the new beds, which will probably go to Ascot's Heatherwood and Slough's Wexham Park hospitals.
The crisis over care for the mentally ill has been brought to a head because a London health authority has said it will no longer continue to take East Berkshire patients at St Bernard's Hospital in Southall.
The new cash grant, which begins next year and will be made available over the next four years, has been described as "a major step forward" by Berkshire Area Health Authority chairman Prof Frank Hampson.
Extract Evening Post 24/06/1980

 

It's Your Health Service

The next meeting of East Berkshire Community Health Council is on Tuesday, JULY 1, 1980 2.30pm in the Recreation Hall Heatherwood Hospital Ascot
Opportunity for public questions and comments at start of meeting Inquiries: CHC Secretary 30 Windsor Road Slough. Slough 20357
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 26/06/1980

 

New boost for town's mental health patients

Bracknell's mentally ill patients needing hospital treatment could soon be able to get it at Heatherwood Hospital instead of having to wait for a place at a hospital over 30 miles away.
East Berkshire is to get 125 beds for mentally ill patients and the Community Health Council expects some of them to go to Heatherwood.
The beds will be paid for out of an extra £4 million that the Berkshire Area Health Authority has been allocated to spend on services for the mentally ill.
CHC vice chairman Mrs Jan Morrison said she was "very pleased" about the extra help for patients who now have to travel to St Bernard's Hospital, Southall for treatment.
But she added that 125 beds were not enough to cope with all East Berks mentally ill.
Installed
"We need another 100 beds before we are self sufficient," she said. "It is encouraging to get this 125 but it is not enough.
"They are going to be installed over four years so we will not have the full benefit for some time."
The beds are likely to be shared between Heatherwood and Slough's Wexham Park and Upton Hospitals.
Mr Norman Nicholson, another CHC member, said the need for extra services was becoming more urgent because St Bernard's were often unwilling to take patients from East Berks.
"Several GPs have told me that they have been trying for months to get people into St Bernard's and they cannot," he said.
"It is not very satisfactory to send them there anyway but at the moment it seems that we cannot even do that."
CHC secretary Miss Juliet Mattinson said St Bernard's agreed to accept East Berks patients in theory.
"They take long term patients but sometimes short term patients are a problem because they have staff shortages," she said.
Extract Bracknell Times 03/07/1980

 

Too Little Too Late Rap on Mental Health Plans

Health chiefs have been severely criticised for failing to solve the problems of East Berkshire's mentally ill sufficiently quickly.
East Berkshire's Community Health Council hit out against what they describe as the excessive amount of time from 1976 taken to discuss ways of ending the district's dependence on St Bernard's Hospital, thirty miles away.
Cash
In its annual report, the CHC claims discussions between the regional health chiefs and the Department of Health have been agonisingly slow", and called for a greater sense of urgency in approaching the whole question of the mentally ill.
Lack of cash for extra beds at local hospitals has prevented Berkshire's Health chiefs from ending the district's dependence on the Southall hospital this year.
Berkshire's Area Health Authority has now agreed to provide an extra 125 beds at three local hospitals: Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital, Wexham Park and Slough's Upton Hospital.
But the CHC said this was too late.
"We are extremely critical of the time it has taken the various Authorities to get round a table and agree they had a mutual problem in achieving an objective everybody shares, namely an early end to East Berkshire's dependence on St Bernard's Hospital.
"East Berkshire must continue to look to St Bernard's for a major part of its psychiatric services until and unless finance, capital and revenue becomes available for local facilities.
"With some bitterness we point out that we complained in the 1976 report of scant encouragement from the DHSS about the relocation of facilities now provided within large, old and generally distant psychiatric hospitals," said the CHC report.
Extract Bracknell & Wokingham Times 10/07/1980

 

Jumble Sale's Cash Record

A Jumble sale in aid of the newly founded "Help Heatherwood Healthy Babies" appeal has proved one of the biggest money raising sales Windlesham has seen.
In just two hours. in Chertsey Road Hall. Windlesham. £280 was raised.
One organiser. Mrs. Gloria Simons, said that as far as she was aware. it was a record for Windlesham jumble sales.
"Tt's fantastic. It was thanks to everybody's generosity.
People gave us so much: household things like vacuum cleaners and irons as well as a lot of new things.
"I think people were so generous because the appeal is for babies and children. It was a whopping success." said Mrs. Simons. of Caldwell Road. Windlesham.
With profits from Saturday's sale. the appeal has now reached £580 towards a target of £5.000 to install a heart monitoring machine at Heatherwood Hospital. Ascot.
Extract Farnborough & Aldershot News 11/07/1980

 

Around Bagshot & District

Put your best foot forward and "Help Heatherwood Have Healthy Babies."
That is the message from organisers of this appeal in their bid to raise £5.000 to install a vital heart monitoring machine for babies at Heatherwood Hospital.
A sponsored walk of about five miles has been mapped out around Virginia Water for Saturday, August 2. Walkers will set off at 2.30 p.m. with nurses and staff from the hospital joining in.
Contact Mrs. Gloria Simons. Bagshot 74906, if you want to take part.
Extract Farnborough News 18/07/1980

 

Row Over Broken Promise on Hospital

East Berkshire Community Health Council accused health chiefs this week of burying the idea of a general hospital for Bracknell through "hotch potch planning."
The attack followed news that Oxford Regional Health Authority's plans to fund extra provision for the mentally ill and elderly mentally infirm at Ascot's Heatherwood hospital are well underway.
In a letter to RÍA members, CHC chairman Mr Geoffrey Havelock complained: "Further investment at Heatherwood Hospital will put an end to any possibility of leaving that site.
And the citizens of Bracknell, Sandhurst and Crowthorne can say goodbye, now and in the future, to any hope of more accessible hospital services except for the limited facilities that will, eventually, be provided in a community hospital."
Consideration
The letter went on: "That may be accepted but such a decision should only be taken after full consideration of all the facts."
The CHC are accusing the RHA of breaking a promise to provide a full debate on the need for a Bracknell general hospital.
In February 1979, Berkshire AHA made the decision to bolster services at Heatherwood and build a community hospital in Bracknell.
They said a Bracknell general hospital would be too expensive. This decision was attacked by the CHC as ill thought out and extracted a promise from the RHA to discuss the problem once more "prior to any further capital investment being undertaken at Heatherwood."
Mr Havelock wrote: "The RHA will be compounding the failure in February 1979 of Berkshire AHA to discuss adequately this issue and a further example of hotch potch planning is staring us in the face. "We consider it monstrous that plans will be laid for one service in the absence of clear proposals for other patient groups."
An RHA spokesman said they were forced into the move.
Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow AHA issued an ultimatum to cease referring psychiatric patients to St Bernard's hospital.
We must press on to meet the deadline in 1985 when we have to have somewhere to house psychiatric patients," said the spokesman.
The RHA admit this policy has breached their previous guarantee for a full debate on Bracknell's health service future.
Mr Peter Cooke, the RHA's regional administrator, wrote to the CHC: "I do not regard it as practical to await the outcome of further work and discussion of proposals for all bed developments in East Berkshire before reporting specific proposals for psychiatric services.
"This I accept is not in keeping with the 'guarantee' which was given.
I believe events dictate this approach."
Extract Bracknell Times 31/07/1980

 

Nursing exam success

East Berks nurses are coming through their training courses with flying colours.
21 out of 24 nurses who took their State Registered Nurse finals in June passed the exams and all five nurses who took the course for State Certified Midwives were successful.
Four of the six nurses who re-took the SRN exams passed on their second attempt and one of the two nurses who re-took the midwifery exams was successful.
The training programmes for the nurses was divided between Heatherwood Hospital Ascot, and Wexham Park Hospital, Slough.
Training for East Berks is organised by the Berkshire Area Health Authority's District Management Team Mr Ray Gosney, the AHA General Administrator, said the DMT's training programme had a very good examination success record.
"The District Management Team has been very pleased indeed to note the continuing success of its training programme for qualifications," he said. "The excellent training provided is demonstrated by these examination results."
Extract Bracknell Times 07/08/1980

 

Mothers' £5,000 'Thanks' Target

Four local mothers who enjoyed the facilities of the maternity unit of Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, at the same time are so appreciative of the standard of care that they are trying to raise £5,000 to buy the un much needed heart Salvationists monitoring machine.
The ladies Mrs Gloria Simons of Windlesham, Mrs Jenny Gunston, Bracknell, Mrs Shirley Maris, Windsor and Mrs Sue Webb, Winkfield Plain have already raised quite a bit towards their goal, including more than £300 from a raffle.
Now the group, which has the backing of Heatherwood Hospital League of Friends, is expecting great things from a five-mile sponsored I walk which it is to hold at Virginia Water on September 7.
Anyone who would like to take part or act as a sponsor should contact Mrs Gunston, Tel Bracknell 55347.
The original four have now been joined by another grateful ex-Heatherwood patient, Mrs Lyn Luckey of Lightwater, who sent a cheque and volunteered to help when she heard of their plans.
They are to have a stand at Bracknell show on Monday.
Extract Evening Post 21/08/1980

 

Could We Spread The Generosity

I Would like to respond to the letter written by Arthur Waller concerning the Ken Thomas Body Scanner Appeal (Times, Aug 28).
As someone who has lost a close and very dear relative from the tortures of cancer and who at present has an uncle suffering from numerous operations, skin grafts and the total loss of voice because of this dreadful disease, I support the sentiments expressed by Mr Waller.
However, I would also like people to spread their energies and generosity in another direction.
Let me explain. I am one of five local mothers who have undertaken to raise £5,000 to buy a foetal heart monitoring machine for Heatherwood Hospital.
The machine monitors the baby's heart before it is born and tells if the baby is in distress and therefore when it should be born to avoid brain damage by lack of oxygen or even being stillborn.
We have held raffles, a jumble sale, a sponsored walk, various "home parties" and stalls at fetes etc. A Christmas Fayre is arranged for November.
We are still a very long way from the £5,000 needed and would like help in organising the various events (coffee mornings etc), would like to be "adopted" by a local newspaper and most of all would like financial donations. So, if any ex- Heatherwood mums feel so inclined we would love to hear from you.
Perhaps a little of the Berkshire generosity could be spread to help with our baby fund.
I'm sure it could be done without in anyway detracting from the Ken Thomas Appeal.
Gloria Simons, secretary, Help Heatherwood Have Healthy Babies Fund, 11 Caldwell Road, Windlesham, Surrey.
Extract Bracknell Times 11/09/1980

 

Health chiefs defend their hospital plans

Health Chiefs have defended themselves against criticisms of the way they reached a decision over plans for East Berkshire's hospitals.
They claim the decision not to go ahead with a Bracknell general hospital and expand Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital instead was reached "in a correct and proper manner."
And the Berks Area Health Authority says later events have proved there was never going to be enough money in the kitty for Bracknell to get its own general hospital.
The AHA came in for strong criticism some time ago from the East Berks Community Health Council. The "watchdog" group claimed the AHA never really took its objections into account.
But now the AHA has replied to the accusation "The proposals were sent out widely for formal consultation in October 1978, and were reconsidered in February 1979 in the light of comments made by those consulted."
The health bosses add that the West Berks CHC did not support building a general hospital at Bracknell to serve both the new town and Wokingham.
The recently announced drastic reduction in the Oxford regional capital programme underlines the inappropriateness of the suggestion that large capital funds could be provided for a new general hospital at Bracknell," they say.
Extract Evening Post 25/09/1980

 

Bruce's wife is rushed to hospital

Illness drama of tv's Anthea
By Steve Evans
Bruce Forsyth's wife Anthea Redfern was rushed to hospital yesterday.
She was admitted to Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot but immediately transferred to the Princess Margaret private hospital in Windsor.
And today a hospital spokesman said she was resting after an attack of glandular fever.
Extract Evening Post 01/10/1980

 

Bruce at Clinic Bedside

Anthea Redfern, the estranged wife of Bruce Forsyth, has been taken to hospital after collapsing at the home the couple still share in Wentworth near Ascot.
Bruce rushed to her bedside after she was taken to Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot and later transferred to the private Princess Margaret Clinic in Windsor.
A spokesman at the clinic said today:
"Miss Redfern is quite satisfactory."
Bruce Forsyth's personal assistant Ian Wilson said today: "Anthea has had glandular fever for two or three weeks and she was either not responding to treatment or not taking enough rest."
Mr. Wilson said that there was absolutely no truth in early reports which said that Anthea had suffered a drug overdose.
Extract Birmingham Evening Mail 01/10/1980

 

Anthea Redfern Resting

'Run-down' Anthea in hospital
Television personality Anthea Redfern has been admitted to hospital suffering from glandular fever.
Anthea wife of entertainer Bruce Forsyth is being cared for at the private Princess Margaret Hospital at Windsor, Berkshire, where a spokesman said: "She is resting. All I can say about her condition is that she is peaceful."
Bruce has visited her in a private ward at the hospital but she is not allowed any other visitors.
Bruce's publicity agent, Mr Ian Wilson said at the couple's home, a mansion overlooking Wentworth golf course: "It is nothing particularly sensational.
Anthea has had glandular fever for a couple weeks now. She wasn't getting enough rest and wasn't responding 100 per cent to the treatment.
"She said she would have to go into hospital for a few tests."
He added: "She has looked rather run-down for the last couple of weeks.
It is difficult to take as much rest as you should do with two young kids and three dogs and a house and all the rest of it.
"She really is mostly a mum and that's rather a full-time job."
He strenuously denied rumours that 29-year-old Anthea had been admitted to hospital after a drugs overdose. "It is absolutely not true," he said.
Two months ago it was reported that Bruce and Anthea had ended their year-long "separation" during which they continued to share the Wentworth home.
The couple appeared together with Sammy Davies Junior in a London Weekend Television show broadcast on September 21.
Anthea was first taken on Tuesday, to Heatherwood Hospital, Ascot, which is near their home, and later transferred to the Princess Margaret Hospital
Extract Liverpool Daily Post 02/10/1980

 

Bracknell Ladies Circle

Bracknell Ladies Circle members staged a fund-raising Cordon Bleu evening and raised nearly £279 for charity.
The money will be divided between the Ken Thomas Appeal and Heatherwood Hospital.
Extract Bracknell Times 02/10/1980

 

Bracknell Ladies Circle

Had a tin and tuck stall at Bracknell Market last Friday.
The group raised £80 from a morning's work and said they were pleased with the result.
They are spending their year raising money for the Scanner and for new equipment at Heatherwood Hospital.
Extract Bracknell Times 23/10/1984

 

Extra Cash To be Put Aside For Mentally Ill

East Berkshire is to up to £6 million to provide more hospital beds for the mentally ill.
The urgently needed extra 75 beds at Ascot's Heatherwood Hospital and 50 at Wexham Park Slough, are to be introduced within the next six years.
Informed
But local health service representatives are admitting defeat in their bid to convince health chiefs of the need for a new district hospital at Bracknell Representatives of the East Berkshire Community Health Council met regional and area health bosses and local administrators recently.
The debate centred on the urgent need in the district for beds for the mentally ill and elderly mentally infirm.
CHC chairman Mr Geoffrey Havelock told members: "We were informed that something between £4 million and £6 million could be made available immediately to alleviate the problem."
He said there was undoubtedly space at Heatherwood for new psychiatric wards to be erected and it seemed inevitable the development would take place there rather than on a new site in Bracknell.
The CHC still felt the need for a district hospital in the new town would become apparent in the next 20 years.
Extract Bracknell Times 11/12/1980

 

The Hospital Revellers

Christmas can be lonely for those confined to a hospital bed, but the nurses at Heatherwood Hospital at Ascot did their best to make it a time to remember for the children and babies unlucky to find themselves away from home during the festive season."
Carol singing and colourful decorations gave the children's ward a festive atmosphere and helped the patients share in the joy of Christmas.
Presents were provided for the Christmas tree, and a visit by Father Christmas made sure that the children were not made to feel left out of the celebrations.
To cap it all, the kitchen staff at the hospital served-up a real Christmas dinner perhaps it was not as good as the way Mum does it, but all the same it helped to make it a real Christmas.
Extract Bracknell Times 31/12/1980

Comment:- The above article was accompanied by a photo.
Pictured were (left to right) are Sister Sue Brook (holding the Teddy Bear) Staff Nurse Tracey Deasy, Nurse Teresa Bellamy, who is holding young Marcus Legg, Sister Sue Nell, seen with baby Joel Kemp, Natalie James (pictured in the cot), Staff Nurse Sue Dent, holding Benjamin Neal, Nurse Sally Water, holding another cuddly bear, SEN Karen Rattew, holding a bewildered Clyde Raffety, and far right is Nurse Lynda Hopkins.
Copyright prevents us from displaying the photo here.