Season’s Greetings from the Chairman and Chief Executive!

2015 has been another great year for us – it was our first full year as an enlarged trust and we underwent some big changes.

As the year comes to a close we reflect on progress over the past 12 months.

One trust, one team

Since Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS FT joined in October 2014, we have been proud to be one of the biggest and most diverse hospital trusts in the south. Our common values ‘Committed to Excellence, Working Together and Facing the Future’ have united us across the four counties we serve.

We launched the Frimley Health staff awards to celebrate some of the colleagues and teams who have shown exceptional commitment to our values. The first of our annual awards ceremonies – held at the Berystede Hotel, Ascot – demonstrated how much their work is appreciated.

Listening in Action, previously a success at Wexham Park and Heatherwood, has been another successful campaign. Hundreds of colleagues from all our hospitals have implemented a series of simple practical measures that were derived from staff-led workshops to improve care.

Huge progress has been made bringing together support functions and clinical services to make them better and more efficient.

12 months of progress

The year started with some of the most challenging conditions ever seen in the NHS. But by summer Frimley Health had turned performance around. For the first time in years, a trust running Wexham Park and Heatherwood hospitals achieved all the key targets set by Monitor, including 95% of patients waiting less than four hours in A&E, and key outpatient and cancer waiting targets.

During the year we:

•      Opened the midwife-led Mulberry Suite at Frimley Park
•      Completed a second decked visitors’ car park extension at the front of Frimley Park and began work on a project to add more than 500 extra visitor and staff spaces at Wexham Park Hospital
•      Welcomed Windsor MP Adam Afriyie to open our refurbished endoscopy unit at Heatherwood, where we also introduced a new CT scanner with angio capability.

GP referrals have grown 8% at Wexham and Heatherwood as doctors and patients regain confidence in us. Complaints are down and ‘friends and family’ test scores have improved.

October 2015 saw the return of the Care Quality Commission to Wexham Park after they placed the hospital in special measures in 2014. We will know the result of their inspection in January but we are hopeful that they will report a significant improvement and bring us a step closer to our vision of a trust with three outstanding hospitals. 

Part of the community

We once again enjoyed heartening support from the healthcare community and from the public. Hundreds of thousands of pounds were raised for our charity appeals, including our Breast Care Appeal, as countless people gave up their time and money. And volunteers provided invaluable assistance across our community.

We welcomed scores of people to our health events and to our first annual members meeting, which was a great success.

Building a new future

The past year has flown by. We have achieved a lot but we know we have much more to do to keep up momentum and progress to even better things in 2016.

2016 will be an exciting year as we look to start work on redeveloping Wexham Park’s maternity unit and rebuilding a new A&E suite, as well as sharing more detailed plans for a state of the art new hospital at Heatherwood. 

So here’s wishing you a very Happy Christmas and a successful 2016!

Sir Mike Aaronson, chairman

Sir Andrew Morris, chief executive

Download the full Christmas message from the chairman and chief executive with colour pictures from throughout the year