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Members of Bracknell Forest Council aren't convinced by NHS plans for the future of Heatherwood Hospital
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Councillors not convinced Heatherwood plans will give "efficient and good quality health services"

By Julie Spencer
January 30, 2013

A ‘flawed' proposal to reorganise health care in Bracknell Forest has not convinced councillors the new system will give patients ‘efficient and good quality health services’.

Concerns about the future viability of Heatherwood Hospital and patient choice are contained in the official response of Bracknell Forest Council’s Executive to the NHS Shaping the Future of Health Care in East Berkshire consultation.

The proposal includes closing the Ascot Birth Centre at Heatherwood, moving its minor injuries unit to a new urgent care centre in Bracknell and closing a rehabilitation ward in favour of home and community-based recovery.

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At a meeting of Bracknell Forest Council last night councillors were recommended to approve the executive’s view that the proposal does not spell out whether Heatherwood Hospital will have a ‘sustainable financial position’.

The response states: “The proposed further removal of services from the hospital should be set out in the context of whatever is the full, future vision for that site.”

The council’s response also questions the proposal’s ‘preferential treatment’ for the Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospital Trust, fearing Bracknell and Ascot patients will be sent to Slough for treatment when they would prefer Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH) in Reading or Frimley Park in Surrey.

The council’s response states the proposals have a ‘significant knock-on consequences’ for both Frimley Park and the RBH.

It states: “It must be recognised that Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospital Trust is no longer the preferred service provider in Bracknell Forest and that any attempts to manipulate the local market and inhibit patient choice or place the (Bracknell Forest and Ascot) Clinical Commissioning Group in financial difficulty will be resisted at the highest possible level.”

The Shaping the Future document was published in the autumn and people in Bracknell Forest and Ascot have until January 31 to log their comments.

Bracknell Forest Council’s executive does support a well-staffed urgent care centre at Brants Bridge but stresses patients must know what treatment is available there. It also supports the home rehabilitation strategy as long as it is well-funded and organised.

The proposal to close the Ascot Birth Centre at Heatherwood is also supported by the council’s executive as long as mothers-to-be have ‘real choices’ about where to give birth, whether in hospital or at home.

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Most recent user comments 12 of 12

Michael AB - Alas I fear that sadly no helicopters for the regular "common" people.

However I assume Dr Do-little has a half baked unfunded scheme to build a monorail or mag lev train line through Binfield and Warfield linking Wokingham or Reading to the Hospital ... i'm sure that would be OK?!

My daughter didnt even consider Heatherwood for her 2 births - thats why its closed - people voted with their feet!

I think its fairly safe to say that his super-hospital will NEVER happen ...., and I agree with your comment Winstanley! Although i disagree with you on one point - the Conservatives dont have the balls to de-select him.

Tom Edwards, Bracknell
04/02/2013 at 11:38

We need a Maternity unit at Heatherwood! My Grandson was born in the car on route to Frimley Park because it was too far away to get there in time. Another baby from Bracknell was born in the car park that day. How long before there is a tragedy?

Local Person
30/01/2013 at 20:47

And what do our councillors think of Philip Lee's super hospital idea? Does anyone know?

Dids, Bracknell
30/01/2013 at 19:08

But wasn't Brant's Bridge supposed to be built at the same time as the Dialysis and Cancer Unit? And didn't I read that the D &C unit is up and running and has been for quite a long time but Brants Bridge isn't?

Dids, Bracknell
30/01/2013 at 19:06

Gingertop - I applaud your commitment and industriousness.

As a regular healthcare user can you explain to me a number of things. In all sincerity I would like to know why the campaign for Heatherwood has drawn such support.

- Is opposition to any movement of services based upon recognition of local need? Or is it a largely political opposition aimed at the Conservatives?

- Are the 23,000 signatories all local to the Heatherwood 'catchment area'?

- Do supporters believe Heatherwood offers the very best option for the locality it serves, given that it is an old building and is run by an organisation known to have run up enormous debts?

Is there any merit - partisan posturing aside - to the response issued by BFC Executive?

Genuinely I'd like to know.

Winstanley, Bracknell
30/01/2013 at 17:43

Eighteen months ago a group of activists met to discuss how best to resist plans by NHS bosses to close our local hospital.

The campaign has involved anti-cuts activists from Bracknell, Ascot, Windsor and Slough, drawn from local trade unions and political groups.

It have collected 23,000 names on it's petition, which opposed the closure of Heatherwood or any of its services and they produced a People's Consultation which nearly 3,000 local people signed up to. This opposed all closures and demanded that the hospital remain an NHS hospital.

http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/750/16062/30-01-2013/heatherwood-hospital-campaign-shows-determination

with a fighting leadership involving the whole community, we can challenge cost-cutting policies.

Gingertop, Bracknell
30/01/2013 at 16:51

One of the biggest issues coming out of this is that an enormous number of people, locally, are being ignored. Lee just won't engage because it is a direct challenge to his daydreaming. But at least it looks like the BFC mafia are getting the message.

Why is it so difficult for elected representatives to understand that they only hold their position under sufferance? They are there to serve US not their own low-rent schemes and insane plots.

Mme. Madeline Vegas, Hanworth, Bracknell
30/01/2013 at 13:44

Heatherwood doesn't stand a chance of maintaining yet alone improving its facilities while Bracknell has an MP with his practice in Slough whose main objective is a new hospital located on the M4/

Bracknell residents need to understand that there is no public transport from their town to the area of the proposed hospital and there is unlikely to e good public transport.

PoneRana, Wokingham
30/01/2013 at 12:12

Lee's hospital won't happen - he'll be kicked out in 2015 in favour of a candidate FROM Bracknell, who actually gives a damn about Bracknell.

Have to say I agree with BFC on this. I'm under long term consultant care and was previously dealt with through WP. The service was shocking and ultimately life threatening. I moved my care to RB and it is superior in all ways. Maternity care at FP is outstanding and frankly the options available through RB and FP for Bracknell residents are significantly better than anything on offer through WP.

Wexham is irrelevant to us - just as Lee's fantasy hospital is.

Winstanley, Bracknell
30/01/2013 at 10:59

Thank you Tom. I was forgetting Phillip Lee's grand plan. Presumably there will be a regular helicopter service from Bracknell to this glorious hospital - to make it possible for us all to reach it.

MichaelAB
30/01/2013 at 10:05

MichaelAB can i just correct you on a small point ..... you forget that we will have a super-dooper shiny new hospital built at Junc8/9 of the M4 [The Dr Phillip Lee Memorial Hospital ] which will solve everyone's problems ;-)

I do so very much wish that our MP would listen to residents - or at the very least pretend to listen to his residents and FIGHT for healthcare provision IN Bracknell!

Tom Edwards, Bracknell
30/01/2013 at 09:58

Bracknell Councillors were right in saying that people are worried that they will end up in Wexham Park Hospital if they go to Heatherwood for consultation. The journey from Bracknell to Frimley Park is so much easier and smoother than crawling through Slough - and then finding it difficult to park at Wexham Park. Let us hope that Brants Bridge will be well-staffed and prove to be the kind of treatment centre that Bracknell people need.