This has seemed like a very long winter for the NHS, and our teams at Frimley Health are continuing to work very hard to keep our patients safe under difficult circumstances.
The latest round of strikes by junior doctors ended this week and we are once again extremely grateful to all those colleagues who stepped in to cover extra shifts, or who worked in different areas, to make sure we could keep emergency and critical services running well.
While demands on the NHS in recent months have undoubtedly been some of the toughest our teams and our patients have experienced, I hope that the articles in this newsletter also show you that we remain committed to continually improving services for patients in the future.
Completion of the refurbishment of our cath labs at Frimley Park (see below) is excellent news for people across the region. When the labs opened well over a decade ago as part of the Frimley heart attack centre, they were at the cutting edge of life-saving technology. This upgrade means our team can continue offering the latest medical interventions and provide even more complex heart treatments locally. You can also read about an amazing new endoscopy technique, how our emergency teams are supporting research, and some of the other ways we are supporting patients and teams.
I really hope that you can also join us online next week at our next Health Event, outlined below. I am really looking forward to hearing from our amazing cancer support services – caring for patients with cancer is such an important aspect of our work and I know all of us have been impacted to some degree by the disease. We will also be giving you the latest updates from the trust, including progress on or new hospital to replace Frimley Park.
So, here’s to longer days and warmer weather around the corner – I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter and please join us if you can for next week’s Health Event.
Bryan Ingleby
Chair
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
Latest update on our proposals to develop a new Frimley Park
The work we have underway to build a new Frimley Park Hospital moved a step closer in early 2024, with the completion of a comprehensive and wide-ranging public engagement exercise.
The new state-of-the-art replacement for Frimley Park Hospital needs to be developed on a new site because attempting to build a new hospital on our current site is not a viable option
Between 24 November 2023 and 7 January 2024, almost 3,400 patients, local people, our partners, stakeholders, and NHS staff completed an online questionnaire to have their say on what is important to them in our site for the new hospital.
We have now published an independent report on the views, opinions, and feedback we received during the engagement exercise. This is being carefully considered as we move forward with our process to identify potential viable sites for the new Frimley Park Hospital. The full results of the engagement exercise are available to download from our website.
Next steps...
We are incredibly grateful to everyone who took the opportunity and the time to provide feedback on our draft criteria for evaluating potential viable sites for the new Frimley Park Hospital.
We are carefully considering the feedback as we move forward with our plans to identify a preferred site, or sites. For more information, please visit this page.
Frimley's diagnostic unit build begins
It has been a really exciting week at Frimley Park Hospital as the modules that will make up our fantastic new £49m inpatient and diagnostic unit started to arrive.
The first five modules were delivered on Tuesday 27 February, and it will take 179 deliveries over a period of three and a half weeks (that’s eight or nine modules delivered every day) for all the modules to be in place.
The team will do all they can to minimise the disruption, but please be aware that there may be some traffic disruption while the modules are brought on site.
This is a major milestone in the build, which will deliver 74 much needed new inpatient beds and a brilliant new state-of-the-art diagnostic and imaging unit. The inpatient wards will be ready at the end of the year, with the remainder of the build opened in spring 2025.
Another milestone was the installation of 127 ‘steels’ (that’s 26.5 tonnes of steel) that make up the frame of the corridor that will link the new building to our existing hospital.
State-of-of-the-heart cardiology lab re-opens to patients this month
Heart care at Frimley Park Hospital has been transformed with the completion of an extensive £2.6m modernisation programme to upgrade its two catheter laboratories (cath labs).
The state-of-the-heart cath labs will allow more patients to be treated at the hospital, as they reduce the time taken to perform some common heart procedures. The latest technology will also allow more complex cardiac work to be carried out locally rather than patients having to travel to specialist centres in London.
The newly installed equipment includes a specialist x-ray machine that emits 40% less radiation, modern surgical lighting, and a new digital viewing system with a large LCD screen to help reduce patient anxiety before procedures. The upgrade also includes the latest conference facilities that will allow thour Frimley Health team to stream live training sessions and run educational courses for other organisations around the world.
Dr Peter Clarkson, cardiology consultant said: “The entire cath lab has been designed around efficiency and will allow us to increase the number of patients we treat each day. This is an important investment that will advance our digital capability, speed up the time taken to carry out some procedures and ultimately improve the patient experience by providing a calming and comforting environment.” Read more.
New chief of strategy officer joins the Trust
At the start of this month we welcomed James Clarke, our new chief strategy officer who will provide executive leadership for the Trust in the key areas of strategy, partnerships and estates.
James, who joined us on February 1, was previously director of business and people planning for the UK Border Force. He is an accomplished board member with a strong foundation in leadership and strategy and extensive experience in the private, public, and voluntary sectors, leading transformation initiatives and enhancing the customer and patient experience.
Commenting on his new role, James said: "I am thrilled to embark on this journey with a top-performing trust. I will bring my experience from the public and private sectors to support in the continued delivery of the Trust’s goals.”
First Trust in the region to introduce 'sponge on a string' endoscopy
We have become the first NHS trust in Surrey and Sussex to use an innovative new diagnostic test to detect diseases in the upper digestive system.
The ‘sponge on a string’ is a less invasive method of endoscopy which collects cells in the oesophagus (gullet or food pipe) and can help diagnose specific cancers earlier.
The capsule sponge test is a vitamin-sized capsule containing a small spherical sponge attached to a string. When swallowed, the capsule dissolves and the sponge expands within the stomach to collect cells from the oesophagus lining. The sponge is then retrieved using the string.
The whole procedure takes just seven and a half minutes with no additional recovery time needed. A traditional endoscopy, which involves passing a long, flexible tube equipped with a video camera down the throat, takes around 30 minutes and, as many patients choose to be sedated, the average recovery time is about six hours.
Join our online Health Event on 6 March
Join us online on Wednesday 6 March between 6.30pm and 7.30pm to hear all about how we’re supporting people living with cancer. At our ‘Knowledge is power: elevating cancer awareness and support in our community’ event you will hear from our cancer information and support services team as they talk about how they can empower, inform and uplift our patients, their families and those living in the community with cancer.
The event is an opportunity to hear real patient stories and to listen to experts including: Mary Hayes, Macmillan head of nursing for cancer, and Jessica Tutton, Macmillan cancer information and support manager. Frimley Health Chief Executive Neil Dardis will also give the latest update on performance at the Trust. Register here.
Frimley Health a "gold standard" for Veteran care
We have recently been reaccredited as a Veteran Aware trust in recognition of our commitment to providing high-quality care for veterans, armed forces, reservists and their families.
Earlier this month we received the reward letter and certificate on behalf of former General Lord Dannatt, the Army’s former chief of general staff; Professor Tim Briggs, national lead for the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA); and the VCHA National Steering Group.
The report on Frimley Health praised the work of our Armed Forces Covenant lead, Kerry Gospel, and hailed the culture of openness and desire to learn as “the gold standard” for care in the armed forces community. The report recommended that other trusts look to Frimley Health to replicate our model.
Celebrating our amazing apprentices
This month we celebrated National Apprenticeship Week by highlighting the incredible opportunities that apprenticeships provide and showcasing some of our brilliant staff who are already seeing the benefits.
With around 250 apprentices in Frimley Health at any one time - from healthcare assistants, diagnostic radiographers and occupational therapists to registered nurses and HR support - this upskilling has numerous benefits to the individual, our Trust and our patients.
During the celebratory week our learning and development team organised webinars, a breakfast with our Trust executives and they set up stands at our hospitals and community sites to raise awareness about apprenticeships and create interest for the future. They also celebrated around 80 staff who completed their training this year, plus those who completed functional skills programmes and attended our English Conversation Club sessions. Read more.
Emergency teams lead heart study
Forget heart-fluttering moments of romance, we're diving into the real deal – new research on acute coronary syndrome (ACS).
Both emergency departments (EDs) have been at the forefront of a study aiming to improve how we diagnose and treat patients with chest pain.
ACS covers a spectrum of conditions related to sudden, decreased blood flow to the heart, including heart attacks and angina. With chest pain affecting 20-40% of us during our lives, and emergency departments seeing a surge in visits for this reason, our research is on the pulse of ensuring life-threatening conditions are identified and treated with lightning speed.
“We’re evaluating strategies used in emergency departments nationwide to investigate cardiac chest pain,” said Sarah Wilson, emergency medical consultant and associate professor. “Different hospitals use different approaches, so our involvement in this national research is the heartbeat of finding the quickest and most efficient strategy for our patients.” Read more.
Run Frimley returns in May
Frimley Health Charity is delighted to welcome the return of the hugely popular Run Frimley taking place at Frimley Green on Sunday 5th May 2024. The event has always attracted a strong community following with over 1,000 runners taking part year on year. Following the success of 2023, the event is comprised of a closed Road 5K and 10K race (featuring chip timing for all participants) to improve your overall running experience and safety, as well as our 1 mile ‘colourful’ family fun run.
A brand-new addition for the 2024 event is The Lenovo Village, with an amazing range of stalls, there really is something for everyone. To keep the little one’s entertained, there will be face painters, games, activities, performers and more. The whole event will also be complimented with music, plenty of stalls to browse around and many delicious caterers to enjoy.
For further information and to sign up see here: Run Frimley - Frimley Health Charity.