News

MP's "super-hospital" plan under microscope

By Hugh Fort
July 30, 2012

THE people of Bracknell have been urged to get behind the borough MP’s plans for a super-hospital – but some remain sceptical of the ambitious project.

Dr Phillip Lee’s bold plans for the hospital, which he wants to be situated close to Junction 8/9 of the M4 motorway near Maidenhead, were discussed at a meeting on Tuesday.

Dr Lee’s proposals come as he feels a number of the hospitals currently serving Bracknell, like Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot and The Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, are not fit for purpose.

His aim is to provide a state-of-the art facility for as many people as possible.

MP reveals hospital plan

Dr Lee makes no secret the plan is hugely ambitious and would need to be funded by the closure and sale of both Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals.

After presenting the plans, he took questions from the audience of around 50 people.

One man raised concerns about transport, saying if the M4 was closed because of an accident, then people travelling to the hospital would be ‘totally stuck’.

Dr Lee pointed out people already travel on the motorway to Wexham Park, but admitted there would have to be ‘major improvements’ to transport, including regular buses and, ideally, a helicopter pad for the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance.

Many people in the audience argued Heatherwood was a valuable asset and put it to Dr Lee that as Bracknell’s MP, he should be doing more to save it.

Dr Lee said it would be an ‘easy vote winner’ to pledge his support for Heatherwood, but said he ‘genuinely believed’ the new hospital would benefit more people.

He said: “Heatherwood needs to close. It has assets and value, as it is opposite Ascot Racecourse and close to the station.

“To have surgery at Heatherwood, you still have to be wheeled outside, underneath a cover, to get to the unit. This is unbelievable.”

Another woman, who worked as a nurse, admitted she was initially sceptical of the plans.

She said: “I’ve had two times in my life where I’ve needed complex care. Each time I travelled further because I wanted to ensure I was treated by the best people.

“I think it would be the same here. I think it’s a great idea.”

John Barlow, who is part of the Save Our Hospital group in Marlow and has been battling to preserve services at Wycombe Hospital, said: “I am a card-carrying member of the Labour Party, but I fully support this idea.

“What it needs is public support, a group of people to come forward to push this.”

For Dr Lee’s full report, visit www.phillip-lee.com

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Professor Norman Williams, president of the Royal College of Surgeons.

said creating specialist ‘centres of excellence’ would force patients to travel further but would improve levels of care. Prof Williams’s comments come despite enormous public opposition to the changes and concerns that patients treated in urgent-care centres – the replacements for local emergency wards – could be misdiagnosed. He said: ‘It will be something that patients will struggle to understand, but the reality is that reconfiguration will actually improve the quality of care and result in fewer complications following treatment.

Emergency surgery patients in some places had a 20 per cent chance of dying, while in other areas the risk doubled to 40 per cent. He said emergency patients had historically received worse care than those who planned their operations, but centralising services could address this problem.

Professor Matthew Cooke, the Department of Health’s clinical director for emergency medicine, added: ‘Patients have the best outcomes when they are seen by doctors, nurses and therapists with specialist expertise. For critically ill or injured patients in need of immediate care, that can be the difference between life and death.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2187025/Nations-surgeon-backs-plan-axe-A-amp-E-wards-claiming-SAVE-lives.html#ixzz23WdqHnyB Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2187025/Nations-surgeon-backs-plan-axe-A-amp-E-wards-claiming-SAVE-lives.html#ixzz23WdgywJL

Olds Oak, Finchampstead
14/08/2012 at 14:08

Marjo - Dr.Lee could quit or do his job properly - that would make me smile :)

CMK
04/08/2012 at 12:26

Typical newspaper headline - See that "Not Happy" is in quotes. The study says that people ARE happy, just on the lower end of happy DUH!

Fewer residents claim to have medium or high happiness levels than the national average... etc. Perhaps Dr Lee can kick donkeys (real word is banned) at the council, and get Winchester house blown up? Lets have one hell of a fireworks!!!!

Crimson Dawn, Bracknell
03/08/2012 at 23:49

Obviously something is wrong.

http://www.getbracknell.co.uk/news/s/2118165_people_in_bracknell_are_not_happy

Can Dr. Lee do domething to cheer us all up?

Marjo
03/08/2012 at 22:47

Hmmm.... - Democratic? Hate to remind you, but well over half the people voted Conservative in Bracknell at the last General election. Just a sixth voted for what must be Left Whingers.

The only people that appear to support Heatherwood are the DOCS group that is run by Socialist Party member Terry Pearce - http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/UK_Towns_and_cities/Bracknell/14107/07-03-2012/partycampaigns-news-in-brief

Do tell me about Slough? What does Phillip Lee do there and where? Times and dates like?

How would you see Phillp Lee contributing to the Schools in the area?

Crimson Dawn, Bracknell
03/08/2012 at 18:50

Phillip Lee was elected by the voters in a democratic election to represent ALL the constituents - for Bracknell. Not Windsor, Maidenhead, Wokingham, Wycombe etc. Phillip Lee is not paid to represent anyone outside of his constituency or to interfere in matters concerning them. It's as simple as that. But he's wasting time and energy on a plan that does not have the backing of the constituents and not even the PCT as they've been categorical in their support for Heatherwood.

If he were to concentrate his efforts - when not swanning around in SLOUGH earning his second wage - on say the regeneration of Bracknell, getting involved in initiatives to help disadvantaged youth affected by cuts to local services, looking at real term efforts for the jobless and helping get people back into work, getting involved in helping push up the standard of our local schools - he'd get a much more sympathetic hearing. But you Tories are only interested in furthering your own interest rather than that of the whole of the region. Meanwhile this unnecessary diversion into his fantasy hospital does nothing for anybody - not in real terms in the here and now.

But as I've said elsewhere Phillip Lee treats us as the little people who don't know any better, and he's the one to help us from ourselves. It's patriarchal, belittling, insulting, and ultimately self defeating.

As for being a winger - I'm not keen on ball sports so you've lost me entirely old chap. Refusing to see beyond the end of my street? - I suspect I can see much further you than you with your myopic allegiance to an outdated party political system that benefits the few at the expense of the many.

Winstanley, Bracknell
03/08/2012 at 16:59

Phillip Lee is plainly NOT listening to his constituents - you and your ilk are in a minority in these forums when it comes to defending him. I'm quite aware that the constituency extends beyond Bracknell Town - and I'm happy for it be the case. What I'm not happy with is this viewpoint that seems to come from Tory voters thinking their MP only speaks for them, and the MP acting in the same way.

Winstanley, Bracknell
03/08/2012 at 16:58

Phillip Lee is listening to the needs and voices of people he represents. Like it or not Bracknell Town does not exist in isolation. Dr Lees Constituency covers Crowthone, Sandhurst, Finchampsted, and Wokingham Without.

It does not cover Warfield – What of Warfield? Are they to only look to Windsor for their NHS treatment? Should Dr Lee ignore them?

Do you not care for the health of others Winstanly? And what do you call “US” Winstanly? US, a bunch of self centred wingers’, who refuse to see beyond the end of their street?

Only by getting all the partners working together can we achieve an NHS fit for the future.

Olds Oak, Finchampstead
03/08/2012 at 13:29

But all the links to reports and publications is irrelevant - especially when it comes to answering the second question - which you failed to do.

The Wanless report looks at the UK as a whole and does not address the dire health provision for Bracknell and Ascot in 2012. You might like to post a link that actually works too, and perhaps draw on a publication that is a little more up-to-date (2004?).

Because there can be no answer or excuse for the high handed, and patriarchal manner in which Lee conducts himself when it comes to a key constituent concern.

Furthermore, I actually agree that Heatherwood should be sold off and a new facility should be built in Bracknell - oh, they tried that with Healthspace and then that got quietly sidelined.....at about the same time that Lee produced his fantasy hospital plans. Coincidence?

So how about it, Old Oaks - question two: Why is Phillip Lee refusing to listen to the needs and voices from the very people he represents?

He doesn't represent Slough, Maidenhead, Windsor, Reading, Wycombe, Marlow, or Wokingham - yet he's expending political energy interfering in the business of those areas when he could be doing a lot more for us.

But then maybe the reason you don't answer this is because you are too closely involved with Lee if not Lee himself. We all know he has a fondness for Finchampstead.....

Winstanley, Bracknell
03/08/2012 at 10:23

Walk-in centres, are usually managed by a nurse, and are quite different to what DR Lee is talking about. ( http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201212/cmhansrd/cm120327/debtext/120327-0001.htm#12032752000913 ) Whereas he has also spoken about community hospitals "best placed to deliver chronic care, not acute care?" ( http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm120620/debtext/120620-0004.htm#120620105002807 )

What he said is not possible to do; Is to have units both in Ascot and Bracknell Towns. Bracknell makes more sense, as this is where the local Centre of population is.

As it says in Lord Darzi’s reportall "local visions made the case for national action to enable local change."

There is nothing arrogant about this, it builds on the above report, and on the earlier Wanless review - "the UK will need to devote more resources to health care and that this must be matched by reform to ensure that these resources are used effectively."

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_085825 http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/consult_wanless_final.htm

Olds Oak, Finchampstead
02/08/2012 at 19:32

It's all very well being a Lee apologist Old Oaks - but answer these two questions:

If he wants to see more elective care and minor treatment at local level why is he anti Healthspace and anti walk-in-clinics? He's quoted in this very paper as saying that is his position, and is a matter of record with Hansard.

Why is Phillip Lee refusing to listen to the needs and voices from the very people he represents? That means all the people of Bracknell, not just Tory voters. With his fantasy hospital he's interfering in the local provision for Wycombe, Marlow, Maidenhead, Slough, Reading, Wokingham, and Windsor, and handing down from on high a proposal that has not a shred of justification for his constituents - and he does so in a condescending, patriarchal, and arrogant manner.

Winstanley, Bracknell
02/08/2012 at 18:21

Old Oaks - yes I have read the document.

The point that worries me is that he is saying we will still have a minor injuries unit - is that 24/7?

Not so long ago my filling fell out, no dentists in Bracknell open to deal with, and by this time was about to tie string round door handle and hope for the best - so phoned the out of hours helpline to be told my nearest was Albert Rd Slough - great no buses running - couldn't afford a taxi = agony!

Just don't want the same to happen if we do not have facilities on our doorstep!

What Dr Lee has to consider is that if the facilities are not close then people will call an ambulance which will take up resources, if not affordable by taxi.

CMK
02/08/2012 at 15:17

CMK and WInstanley – Have you actually read the document? Promoting better facilities in Bracknell is what it does, by removing duplication at other places.

The key feature of the new healthcare model is to provide elective care and minor treatments from the community level and all major surgery and acute care from a central, ‘hub’ hospital

As much care as possible provided in local communities closer to where people live through improved service provision and improved facilities in primary and community settings.

This means the provision of more minor treatments and outpatient appointments in community settings. One of these setting looks to be Brants Bridge in Bracknell, which is already supported by the Royal Berks. There is a lot of space here where other services could be provided. People from Bracknell Town would no longer have to trek miles to far flung hospitals.

Bracknell also has the Brigewell Centre , which was describe by Dr George Kassianos, of Ringmead Medical as: "R a hospital near home where we are very proud to have the service to our patients.

Olds Oak, Finchampstead
02/08/2012 at 13:17

Hear hear CMK

Winstanley, Bracknell
02/08/2012 at 11:08

Not the point really Tim

Dr Lee should be promoting better facilities in Bracknell. If they sold Heatherwood why not use the money to fund a hospital in Bracknell.

All the staff could then be kept.

Dr Lee just wants his name promoted for a Berkshire Hospital not a Bracknell one

At least I know that he doesn't represent us and tbh by the time all this goes through he will be long gone and known as Dr Who?

CMK
01/08/2012 at 20:59

Why are people motorway phobic? They are our fastest and safest roads. I prefer Frimley Park, and go there on the M3 in just under 20 Minutes. Royal Berks is also not bad, and it's 20 Minutes up the 329M M=Motorway!

I had a appontment at Heatherwood at 9am not so long back - I didn't get there until 9.15 despite aiming to be there at 8.45. Shame it's not on a motorway.

Tim Tof, Bracknell
01/08/2012 at 15:54

Crimson Dawn, I was not suggesting there would be an A&E at Heatherwood again, I was stating that we need emergency treatment locally. Whatever happens, we cannot rely on getting to junction 8/9 of the M4.

Maybe this is all a Bracknell Tory plan to let Lee sink himself and bring on a better candidate. They will be mad to keep him!

Marjo
01/08/2012 at 14:15

I see the usual Phillip Lee fanboys are out - Old Oaks and Crimson Dawn.

Why all the arguing about getting to Wexham? The hospital there is completely impractical for Bracknell users. If you live over Wokingham/Finchampstead way then surely Royal Berks is nearest. If you live in Bracknell then Frimley is nearest. Stuff Wexham - I've just had my consultant led care moved to Royal Berks as it is truly awful at Wexham and you take your chances on the M4, or have the trek across the back of Ascot, Winsdor Park, Datchett, Slough - 45 minutes bang on. As I said impractical for Bracknell patients, and the Lee Fantasy hospital is a non-starter. Just look at the farce surrounding Winchester House, what chance has Dr Spock got?

Winstanley, Bracknell
01/08/2012 at 12:44

Old Oaks I used to live in Crowthorne and went the same way - only cos I don't like motorways :)

Do agree with your comments though. Really no one should have to access their nearest hospital by motorway as the preferred method as you are just stuffed if there is an accident.

I still think that we need a hospital in Bracknell which is then relatively easy for residents in all of Bracknell and surrounding areas to access. Dr Lee should address the problems we have on our doorstep imo.

CMK
01/08/2012 at 10:23

CMK, That’s all very well if you live in the “North” of the Constituency – What if you live in Crowthorne, Sanhurst, Wokingham Without, or Finchampstead?

Olds Oak, Finchampstead
01/08/2012 at 10:05

You can go through Warfield,up the Drift Rd, then head up to Legoland, follow on to Windsor and then onto Slough.

Sometimes it can be quicker than M4 especially at rush hour times.

CMK
01/08/2012 at 09:24

So how do you get to Wexham without using the M4?

Olds Oak, Finchampstead
01/08/2012 at 07:59

Sorry Dr Lee you lost my support when you said that Heatherwood is a good asset as by the racecourse and train station - typical Tory it is worth money!!

So Dr Lee one of my kids has had a minor injury, my last trip to Heatherwood was for a dislocated shoulder after rugby at school, I don't drive, I collected him by taxi en route to Heatherwood, if you close Heatherwood just where would we go. Would I have to ring an ambulance to get to near Maidenhead and waste essential services?

So I trust Dr Lee you will be having a facility in Bracknell for minor injuries and physio - in that case you may as well build the hospital in Bracknell!!

Btw agree with the others most people don't use M4 to get to Wexham - but as you are not local you wouldn't have a clue would you!!!!!

CMK
01/08/2012 at 06:25

Marjo you must be living in cloud cuckoo la la land if you think there will ever be an a&e at Ascot again. Wexham have let the place go to pot and are millions in debt. In the latest of the ongoing "consultation" documents there is a telling statement "more focused around the needs of patients with more ‘one stop’ clinics and fewer unnecessary hospital visits." i.e they are going to close hosptals.

Crimson Dawn, Bracknell
31/07/2012 at 22:26

Olds Oak, I am an educated person, I read the broadsheets and know what's happening in the world around me, I don't need a history lesson. I am absolutely not opposed to a super hospital where people can go and get seen by the best consultants in a single place where all the services are, it's a great idea. I just do not think that this should be to the detriment of the local hospital where a sick person can be taken and stablised before being transferred to the best place for continuing care. There needs to be acute care at the point of neccessity. We should have places with well trained emergency medics.

We also need to do right by our ageing population and not dump them in a place miles from home where they can have no visitors and are left on wards starving because no one has time to feed them. Or mistakenly put on the Liverpool Pathway when being treated will make them well.

Building super hospitals now will be like bringing a load of failing businesses together into one place. What needs sorting firstly is the whole system of useless NHS management. I have first hand experience of the NHS and the waste is incredible, you ask anyone who works at a hospital and you will find that the Staff have better cost saving ideas then the managers.

I certainly don't agree with selling Heatherwood; land that we will never regain without great cost, the money will just be wasted and an expensive piece of land taken from the community for ever.

Marjo
31/07/2012 at 21:12

Well Sandyandy, the issue is that the hospital needed to be accessable from the M4 not from country lanes via Holyport. If you get on the A329M and then the M4 to Junction 8/9 you are looking about 14 1/2 miles (I just checked Google Maps - and sorry 20 mile was a guess). I don't know where you got 8.6 miles from. At that distance you certainly don't live in the heart of bracknell town. According to google Wexham is 18 miles from my house. Frimley park is 8 miles from my house, so much closer. Still it's a 20 min drive to Junc 8/9 with the risk of getting stuck in traffic and accidents on the M4 are a regular occurance. It's a long time when a person has a serious illness, a matter of life and death!

FYI - 5 mins to A&E was when Heatherwood had an excellent emergency department, I was rushed there years ago after an accident and five minutes in a bumpy ambulance hurts like hell when you have road accident injuries.

Marjo
31/07/2012 at 21:11

20 miles Marjo???? Google says 8/9 is 8.6 miles away or 17 mins. Wexham is 14.9 miles at 34 mins, and Frimley 10.0 at 21 mins. Roal Berks 10.4 and 20 mins. No chance of 5 minutes to A&E.

The quickest way to Wexham is via M4(8/9) at Hoylport. Its a long slog through the back roads. It's ofter quicker to use the Berkshire way and the 329 to Junction 10.

Sandyandy, Warfield
31/07/2012 at 16:28

Marjo, You should read the following article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jul/24/terence-stephenson-doctors-nhs

With so many big issues pressing on the NHS – the ageing population, the slowly exploding obesity timebomb, and the need to fund new drugs – it is a time for leadership, tough decisions and long-term thinking, and doing the right thing for patients. Most of the hospitals that were brought into the NHS in 1948 are still there, and we've got to grasp that It's not possible in quite a small country of 60 million people to have 200 to 300 24/7 acute centres offering every single discipline

Olds Oak, Finchampstead
31/07/2012 at 15:17

50 people at such an important meeting! Go away Dr. Lee. Typical GP know-it-all. You will never be appreciated in your own constituency and hopefully lose the next election. There are now along with myself many ex-Tory voters in the area. WE DO NOT WANT A HOSPITAL 20 MILES UP THE MOTORWAY. We want to receive emergency treatment in out own locality, I know many people who got timely treatment after accidents because the Ambulance took 5 minutes to get them to A&E. Are you planning on getting funding the air ambulance? Maybe open your Garden to the public! Put your brain in gear and enlarge your understanding of the people you represent, help your constituents and in the process maybe some of us will start to like you. BTW, I don't know anyone from Bracknell who uses the M4 to get to Wrexham Park.

Marjo
31/07/2012 at 12:53

....which kind of makes my point about Lee and his hare brained schemes, Frank. If he spent as much time on Bracknell as he does the Commons Intergalactic Select Committee we might feel we have an MP who takes his constituents seriously.

In fact as Trek analogies go, when considered in context of the Royal Lee Fantasy Hospital - it's entirely logical to consider our MP, when Spock says in The Galileo Seven "... I examined the problem from all angles, and it was plainly hopeless. Logic informed me that, under the circumstances, the only possible action would have to be one of desperation."

Winstanley, Bracknell
30/07/2012 at 19:46

Likening Dr. Lee to Dr. Spock? That's ..........illogical, Winstanley.

Frank Chicken
30/07/2012 at 18:39

A lot of people in Slough and its surrounds already elect to go to Hillingdon Hospital, which is about 20 minutes away. Although Slough residents “may” be able to get to Stoke Poges in 10 minutes, they know that they can easily get to Hillingdon, which is on main roads, not in the middle of country roads. It takes 10 minutes to reach Junction 8/9 from Slough, and there would still be services at Upton etc.

Maidenhead would have the new hospital on its doorstep. Wycombe could also be served by the new facility, with non acute service still offered at the existing hospital.

Ideally, all sustainable services for the Bracknell and Ascot would be offered in one location. Possibly at Brant’s Bridge in Bracknell as that is where the centre of population is.

I am not sure how we can do without an “annual bill”. With the move to GP Commissioning, and person centred budgets, people will need to know more about “their” spend. See http://www.in-control.org.uk/publications/reports-and-discussion-papers/qipp-and-personal-health-budgets-report.aspx

In the Comprehensive Spending Review, the Government announced its commitment to the expansion of personal health budgets, which give people with established health needs, choice and control over their healthcare.

Olds Oak, Finchampstead
30/07/2012 at 16:32

I know it's nitpicking - but perhaps it's a telling example of how little this plan has been thought through. Lee suggests that his plans will require the sale of Heatherwood and Wexham Park hospitals.

But his hospital is predicated on the idea of replacing those two facilities and Royal Berks.

So Heatherwood and Wexham will need to be sold - leaving East Berkshire with no hospital to use other than Royal Berks. Here in Bracknell we can use Frimley (often preferable anyway) - but what do patients in Slough and Maidenhead do? Wycombe is the nearest general hospital and has increasing doubts over it's long term future too.

This article of a month ago shows what locals think - http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/localnews/highwycombe/9790509.MP_calls_for_new_hospital_within_20_mins_of_High_Wycombe/

What do the MP's of these other areas think?

This man's career as MP has been characterised - to date - by a high level of self promotion and thought only for his imagined climb up the slippery pole. Look at his wasted opportunity for making a mark when he tried to introduce his Bill for producing an annual 'bill' for all NHS patients. In stark contrast we have fellow Tory Gavin Barwell introducing a bill to outlaw continued discrimination of sufferers of mental health problems. It was also the tabling of a mental health debate by another Tory MP that highlighted this Bill in the media. In fact go to Gavin Barwell's website and you'll see that he's the kind of MP - Tory or not - that even I could get behind.

And our guy is a working GP? Dr Spock more like.

Kick Lee out now and let's get an MP who truly represents Bracknell, and fights the constituents corner on all matters - local and national.

Winstanley, Bracknell
30/07/2012 at 15:08

As far as I know there isn't any public transport that goes down the M4. In fact I don't know how anyone would get to junction 8/9 of the M4 from most of the local area by public transport. The whole advantage of Heatherwood and Royal Berks is that they both can be fairly easily reached by public transport.