New Berkshire hospital opens
Heatherwood hospital has been built behind the old site in Ascot which served the community for a century
Last updated 28th Mar 2022
ASCOT’S new £100m Heatherwood Hospital has officially opened its doors – with promises of it becoming “one of the best-planned care hospitals in the NHS.”
Applause and cheers were heard this morning from Frimley Health officials and bosses after the ribbon was cut by the hospital’s first patient, Carol Gray.
The brand new centre, which was granted planning permission in 2017 by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, will provide non-emergency care to patients across Berkshire, Hampshire, and Surrey to help reduce waiting times and pressure off A&E.
The 11,500 square metre hospital will use state-of-the-art technology and facilities to provide services for Orthopaedics and Plastics, Ophthalmology, Orthodontics and Lithotripsy.
There will be outpatient services for Cardiology, Gynaecology, General Medicine and Urology, supported by Endoscopy, Physiotherapy, Phlebotomy and Radiology.
The £100m site has six laminar flow operating theatres, 48 in-patient beds, 22-day case pods, 26 out-patient procedures and treatments rooms, six ‘eye rooms’, two endoscopy suites, and radiology services such as MRI, x-ray, etc.
Inspired by the woodland that surrounds the hospital, paintwork of trees is on display on the wall to give it that natural feel. Patients will also have a view of the woodlands in the large consultancy rooms.
It also has a café by the entrance and a prayer and reflection room that accommodates all religions.
Solar panels have been installed to make the building use renewable energy and make it sustainable. A ‘green roof’ has been implemented to absorb rainwater and avoid flooding.
As some trees had to be removed during the development, hundreds of new trees have been planted around the site to fill that void.
First patient
Mrs Gray, who is 64 years old and from Bracknell, was at Heatherwood for a knee operation following an eight-month wait for the surgery. She described the site as “fancy” and that it “looks more like a hotel.”
Frimley Health chief executive Neil Dardis called it a “momentous day” for the Frimley Health staff and will make a “huge difference” for their patients.
He said: “It’s fantastic. Six state-of-the-art theatres, latest diagnostic capabilities, CT, MRI, and doubling our endoscopy capacity.
“So, bringing a lot of the latest treatments to the local community and to the patients we serve. Hopefully, it will be one of the best-planned care hospitals in the NHS and something the whole community can be proud of.”
Following consultation with stakeholders, the new hospital will be able to deliver more focused services and increase its workforce and specialist staffing capacity compared with the previous site.
The old Heatherwood Hospital, which is 100-years-olds, is due to be demolished to make way for 230 homes after Royal Borough councillors gave planning consent earlier this month.
In tribute to the old site, Mr Dardis said: “It began as a hospital to care for the children of ex-servicemen then became a specialist skilled tuberculosis hospital, and then, with the inception of the NHS, it became a thriving district general hospital.
“While some of those services waned a little in the early 2000s, it continued to provide a vital role for the community, including over the pandemic where we carried out 19,000 operations despite the goings-on of the pandemic.
“It’s a hospital that has been dear to our hearts, but we will be bringing that feel to the new building.”
Memorabilia has been brought over from the aging hospital to the new site and its history has been painted on the walls as a tribute to the soon-to-be-demolished building.