‘I’m at breaking point waiting for treatment’
Hospital trust apologises saying delays to its healthcare ‘hurt us as well’
The trust that provides NHS hospital services at Wexham Park and Heatherwood hospitals said it has ‘let patients down’ and given its ‘sincere apologies’ for long waiting times, writes Adrian Williams.
At the Frimley Health Annual Members Meeting, Frimley Health Trust came under fire from patients deeply frustrated with delays to their healthcare.
One patient said she was ‘at breaking point’ having been through ‘12-and-a-half weeks of hell’ trying to get treatment. She said she had made 45 calls to as many departments during this time.
Pradip Patel, chairman of the Frimley board of directors, replied with profuse apologies directed at the scores of patients attending the meeting on Thursday, September 29.
“As hard as we’re working, we have let patients down,” he said. “When people are waiting longer than they need to be, it hurts us as well. This is an absolute priority for us.”
The NHS ‘has had a rough year’ he added – and the trust is facing a number of struggles. The waiting list for care at Frimley hospitals has grown to more than 56,000 people.
This summer, the A&E departments were the ‘busiest on record’.
The trust has recruited more than 3,000 new staff and is benefiting from new technology, units and teams at the recently completed Heatherwood site in nearby Ascot.
It has spent £41million on the completion of this hospital, which opened its doors to patients in March.
Frimley is working on more same-day emergency care services, increasing bed capacity over the winter months and improving efficiency to make a treatment and discharge process that is as fast as possible.
The trust is also doubling the number of staff at its call centres which should have a ‘significant impact’ on waiting times.
“Our communication really must be better,” said Neil Dardis, the trust’s chief executive.
One large change that the trust’s hospitals are grappling with is a streamlining of its systems.
It has set up a single electronic system, launched in June of this year, replacing 200 paper systems.
In terms of finance, external auditor’s evaluations have been ‘about as good as it’s possible to get’ and Frimley is ‘in a better place than many other trusts,’ said director of finance, Nigel Foster.
The NHS is having to address emergency pressures, energy inflation and global recession – as well as food and steel prices reaching ‘double digit inflation’.
“This is the most challenging financial year I have ever seen in my time with the NHS,” he said.
St Mark’s Hospital in Maidenhead was also raised at the meeting.
Its minor injury unit closed ‘temporarily’ in April 2020 as part of the response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Since then, there has been no news on when it will reopen.
Councillor Donna Stimson (Con, St Mary’s) said: “We have so many residents who wish they could use it [St Mark’s] more fully.
“It used to have more services than is has at the moment.”
Mr Dardis acknowledged ‘the importance of providing local services’ and outpatient procedures ‘wherever possible.’
“Hospitals are now very busy and we need to provide more care locally,” he said. “St Mark’s is important to us.”