News imminent on St Mark’s Hospital
Maidenhead: NHS, council and community leaders discuss services
Health bosses outlined their plans for NHS services in the Royal Borough at a meeting with stakeholders last week – with more details on services at St Mark’s Hospital set to be revealed soon.
Frimley NHS leaders met on Thursday, November 17, to discuss plans for the future of key health services in the Royal Borough.
Representatives from the trust covering the Royal Borough met with local authority, voluntary sector and community leaders to talk about proposals and revealed that plans for St Mark’s will be shared with residents soon.
This came just one week after Maidenhead MP Theresa May requested an urgent meeting with NHS leaders in the area to talk about expanding services at St Mark’s Hospital in Maidenhead.
The former Prime Minister said she wants ‘us to be more ambitious’ and wrote to NHS leaders in the area urging them to improve services at the hospital in St Mark’s Road, including increasing capacity to deal with mental health issues and injuries.
St Mark’s has come under scrutiny since its minor injury and illness walk-in centre temporarily closed in April 2020 and has not reopened since – leading to calls for it to be reinstated.
In an update shared after the meeting, the trust said that work with GP practices in the area and the Maidenhead Primary Care Network has been ‘ongoing for
some time’ to explore ways of boosting the numbers of patients that can be treated at St Mark’s Hospital and improving access to a wider range of services and healthcare professionals.
More information about this will be shared with residents soon and plans will continue to be discussed with elected members and stakeholders in the area.
The changes being developed by NHS Frimley include Integrated Care Hubs in Maidenhead, Windsor and Sunningdale.
The facilities would bring together health, care, and voluntary/community sector services to work jointly to support communities.
Improvements in GP practices were also outlined by the team, including investment in new websites, telephone systems and online consulting tools.
The GP workforce has increased and now features a wider range of roles including physiotherapists, pharmacists, mental health practitioners, paramedic practitioners, social prescribers, care co-ordinators and health and wellbeing coaches.
Urgent same-day care services are expanding, with a new service now established at King Edward VII Hospital in Windsor.
GP-led services are also available now in the Royal Borough and can be accessed by appointment through GP practices in the area.
Dr Huw Thomas, a Primary
Care Partner Board Member of NHS Frimley and a GP in Maidenhead, said: “GP services are the front door for most people in the country, when it comes to accessing healthcare – and they are under enormous pressure because of the demand.
“NHS Frimley, your local GPs and Primary Care Networks have been working together on a range of significant, long-term plans to support local services to be able to provide local people with the treatments they need both now and in the future.”
Caroline Farrar, director of Primary Care Development for NHS Frimley, said: “We’re investing in infrastructure across local services, from digital technology to bricks and mortar, to create the platform our providers need.
“We’re also exploring different ways of delivering care by bringing some health and social care services closer together, making them more effective and efficient and providing a better quality of care for patients and service users.
“It’s an exciting time with some important and long-lasting developments under way or being planned, and we’re keen to share more information with local people as soon as we can.”