19 January 2023

It was a momentous occasion at Heatherwood earlier this month as HRH The Countess of Wessex GCVO visited the site and declared the hospital officially open. The Countess visited the planned care centre on Thursday 19 January to meet staff and patients during a special tour of the hospital, before unveiling the plaque at an official opening event.

The tour programme included the hospital’s state of the art theatre area, the day case ‘pods’, the ophthalmology department and an inpatient ward. Around a hundred staff were involved in the event representing all the departments across the Trust that played a part in making Heatherwood happen, from the early planning stages and the move into the new hospital, to delivering excellent care to patients during the first 10 months of opening.

After the tour around 70 guests, including staff past and present, and visitors from local communities, attended a special event in the Parkside reception area to see the commemorative plaque being unveiled. The Countess gave a short speech in which she paid tribute to Frimley Health for “having the vision to create a dedicated planned care hospital… a model that would be used by other Trusts across the country.”

Heatherwood opened its doors to patients in March last year and has already had a significant impact on waiting times for local communities. In just 10 months, more than a 1,000 hip and knee replacements have been performed, up 20% on the number of procedures carried out pre-Covid, more than 2,000 cataracts operations completed, and thousands of patients have been diagnosed, treated and discharged by specialists at the hospital.

As a specialist planned care facility, Heatherwood has been able to perform surgery six days a week - with four out of its six state of the art theatres dedicated to orthopaedic procedures. The hospital has also successfully reduced the length of time patients stay in hospital, with 40% of patients safely discharged within 24 hours.

Neil Dardis, the Trust’s chief executive, said: “We were delighted to welcome The Countess of Wessex to officially open the hospital. It was a very proud day for our staff and for the local communities, marking the treasured 100-year legacy of the old Heatherwood and celebrating this fantastic new hospital – one of the best planned care facilities in the NHS.

“It was a privilege to showcase the achievements we’ve had in the last 10 months to improve planned care for our local communities. Tackling the waiting lists for our patients is more important than ever, we’ve built a strong platform to build on since we opened in March, with all our staff working extremely hard to reduce waiting times and get patients the right treatment they need at the right time.”