Annual Members Meeting - Tuesday 26 September

Local people heard how the trust has taken giant leaps forward in its vision to provide the best hospital services the NHS can offer.

More than 100 guests at the our annual members meeting at Legoland Windsor Hotel this week were told that work is now well underway building a new maternity and women’s services department and a £49m emergency department (ED) and assessment centre.

Bosses said the trust had once again delivered some of the best performance figures while staying in financial balance during the 2016-17 business year, despite going through one of the most challenging winters in memory.

The trust’s other ambitious project to rebuild Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot at a cost of £90m also recently cleared a major hurdle when local planners granted permission to build subject to conditions.

The meeting, the equivalent of an AGM, included an informative presentation about stroke services, which have been reconfigured across the region to improve emergency and rehab care for stroke patients. Among the speakers was former patient Alan Batup, who told the moving story of his battle back to normal life following a devastating stroke.

Staff from the stroke team also held a display at the venue and spoke to guests about stroke care, prevention and rehabilitation.

Chief Executive Sir Andrew Morris said the new ED will have a state of the art majors and resuscitation unit plus 60 bed assessment unit and ambulatory care section for allowing patients to be treated without needing to be admitted when it opens in 2019.

The women's and maternity unit, due to open in late 2017, will have en suites in all delivery rooms, a midwife led birth unit, a specially designed bereavement suite and better outpatient facilities.

The new Heatherwood building still has some hurdles to overcome before work can star on the diagnostic and elective surgery hospital in a woodland setting. Once these are cleared work could start in the new year and will include six operating theatres, 48 inpatient beds, 16 day case beds, CT and MRI scanners and a GP hub.

Sir Andrew highlighted a number of other services that had been introduced during the year, including a heart attack centre, new CT scanner and refurbished chemotherapy unit at Wexham Park, and at Frimley Park a new 22-bed ward, ambulatory care unit and extension of hyper-acute stroke unit. Frimley will also see a new £25m diagnostic and inpatient centre and a renal unit.