I want to pay tribute to our exceptional teams who have been working extremely hard during some of the toughest operational challenges that the NHS has seen. Our patients and our staff have experienced some difficult days in recent weeks.
To help tackle this, we and our partners in primary care across the region will be bringing in changes over the winter aimed at improving your access to services by expanding options for patients in need of urgent and non-urgent care. For example, widening the scale and scope of our ‘virtual wards’ where we provide hospital-level care and oversight at home, same-day emergency treatment and assessment in more specialties and additional options for non-emergency care across our communities such as the new Slough Urgent Care Centre.
We will be bringing more news on these over the winter and we can all do our part by making sure we choose the right service at the right time. We will aim to update and advise you on your options and would appreciate your support in spreading awareness of the best ways to access care.
We are also looking at longer term solutions to many of these challenges with two very exciting pieces of work that we need your help with. One is to help us decide how we choose a site for our new Frimley Park Hospital, which needs to be rebuilt locally by 2030, and the other is to give us your initial thoughts on a trust-wide strategy that will help us on our journey over the rest of the decade.
I hope you can spare a few minutes to give us your feedback – you can find more about how to do this in the article below. Remember that this is your trust and your views and support are invaluable to us.
Bryan Ingleby
Chair
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
Register now - Just four days to go to our next health event
The eye services we offer at Frimley Health will be discussed at our next health event on Tuesday 28 November 6.30pm-7.30pm via Teams. Join us at the event to hear from Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon, Ms Manju Chandran, who will talk about the success of our eye clinic at Heatherwood and how we have transformed services for our patients.
We only need to look at the latest national waiting lists to see that hospital eye services are in high demand, with hundreds of thousands of patients across the country currently on the waiting list to start treatment. At Heatherwood, we have managed to reduce our cataracts waiting list to just two to four weeks for patients and we’re now performing around 20 of these procedures a day at the clinic.
To hear more, click here to register for the event. We look forward to sharing more of our news on Tuesday evening.
New wards, breast care and diagnostic facilities get the go ahead
Building work started on a new £49million building at Frimley Park Hospital, providing two additional wards and state-of-the-art diagnostic facilities, after it received final approval.
The brand new three-storey building is scheduled to be open by early 2025 and will be linked to the main hospital building, making access and delivery of services easier and more efficient. It will create essential additional bed capacity and a greatly improved environment for patients and staff. It will offer:
• 74 inpatient beds – two storeys offering a combination of single rooms and four-bed bays
• Dedicated breast care diagnostic and outpatient unit - providing a ‘one stop’ service in a much-improved modern environment
• State-of-the-art imaging centre - providing increased capacity and capability with the latest diagnostic imaging equipment (comprising three CT and two MRI scanners and two gamma cameras), all within comfortable, purpose-built accommodation
Neil Dardis, Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted to have received full business case approval for this much-needed new building. It is the latest in our ongoing transformation programme and represents a significant investment in the services and facilities we can provide for our local communities.”
Urgent care centre in Slough opens to patients
We are excited to announce our new Slough Urgent Care Centre is now open for anyone with a minor illness who needs same-day treatment. The Slough Urgent Care Centre has been launched in addition to existing healthcare services in and around Slough, including pharmacy, GP, and our hospital emergency department and in partnership with the Frimley Health and Care integrated care system.
The Slough Urgent Care Centre in Priors Close is open 8am-8pm seven days a week, providing booked and walk-in urgent care for patients who do not require treatment in the emergency department.
It is designed to provide faster access to urgent care by ensuring patients receive the right care at the right time and in the right place. This will help reduce the number of non-emergency patients coming through Wexham Park’s emergency department (ED) and ease pressure on hospital services.
Have your say on new hospital and trust strategy
Frimley Health needs your input to shape the future of healthcare in your area as it begins two very important pieces of work. We are planning to build a new Frimley Park hospital by 2030 and your feedback on the criteria we use for a preferred site is crucial. We are also crafting a new strategy for the next seven years and want your thoughts on what matters most to you.
Sharing your views on the new hospital location and helping to create the strategy is vital for Frimley Health and the NHS, especially during these challenging times with high demand and long waiting lists.
New Frimley Park Hospital
We’re delighted to be part of the government’s New Hospital Programme that will see us build a new state-of-the-art replacement for Frimley Park Hospital by 2030. We plan to develop one of the best healthcare facilities in the country – it will provide the modern and efficient environment our patients and staff deserve.
The new hospital will need to be built on a new site, and so we’re asking our patients, staff, and local people what’s important to you about the site for your new hospital. We’d like to know what you think of the criteria we are developing to assess potential sites.
You can have your say in this first engagement period from now until 7 January 2024 via our website and online questionnaire which will help identify a preferred option by February 2024. This is the first phase of our public engagement, there will be many opportunities to be involved throughout our work to develop the new hospital.
Emergency department consultant invested as MBE
One of Frimley health’s most senior doctors had an appointment at the palace last week as he was officially invested as an MBE. Dr Prem Premachandran, consultant in emergency medicine, received the honour from Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal in recognition of his outstanding contribution to local and national healthcare. The award was announced in the King’s birthday honours in June.
Dr Premachandran was a leading light behind new emergency departments at Frimley Park Hospital and Wexham Park Hospital and is also a top advisor for healthcare inspectors the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Dr Premachandran said: “It was so nice to receive my MBE award from our Royal College of Emergency Medicine patron, Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal. I am forever grateful to everyone who has influenced and been part of my medical career, and for the unwavering support of family, friends and colleagues.”
It’ll be golden this Christmas
With only 30 sleeps until Christmas Day, Frimley Health Charity are thrilled to launch their annual Golden Christmas Appeal. Back for its third year, the charity is so excited to share the plans that will make this Christmas one to remember for both staff and patients.
With a fundraising target of £65,000 - all money raised will bring some Christmas cheer to patients waking up in hospital and to our selfless staff leaving their families at home on Christmas Day to care for others.
The charity will be providing all patients with a present bundle on Christmas Day including an activity book and a cracker, free hot lunches and dinners for our NHS staff working on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and Christmas hampers full of treats will be delivered on 22nd December.
If you would like to help to make it a golden Christmas for patients and staff , see here for more information or email the charity team on fhft.fundraising@nhs.net.
Make the right choice when accessing local health services
Winter is always an incredibly busy time for all of our local NHS services and there is already increased demand across our hospitals, GP practice teams and community health services.
To ease these pressures and ensure that those in most urgent need can access services quickly, it’s important to make the right choice when feeling unwell. Using services wisely can help all people receive the best care without unnecessary delays.
Dr Lalitha Iyer, Chief Medical Officer, NHS Frimley said: “Winter can bring increased risk of illness such as coughs, colds and respiratory conditions. The local GP practice teams have been working to ensure people get the treatment they need at the right place and the right time.
The local practices provide a wide range of health services, from medical advice, vaccinations, examinations and treatment. They can arrange a telephone or face-to-face consultation as needed and provide access to routine care, same day care from 8am-8pm, evening and weekends.”
For full list of services available see Frimley Health and Care website.