Update 21st January 2010 - Pressure on beds at Heatherwood & Wexham Park Hospitals

Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is still under extreme pressure with the availability of beds.

Julie Burgess, Chief Executive of the Trust said; “As always, our patients are our primary concern. The safety of patients and their care will continue to be our top priority.

We are appealing to the public to only come to A&E in a critical or life threatening situation. A&E departments provide immediate emergency care for people who show the symptoms of serious illness or who are badly injured. Medical advice can be obtained from NHS Direct on 0845 4647 or locally from your GP.

Patients can also visit the Slough Walk-In Centre, where patients generally wait less than 30 minutes. The Centre is situated at Upton Hospital in Slough town centre (between Albert Street and Osborne Street – SL1 2BJ). The GP-led health centre is open to all – you don’t need an appointment. It is open 12 hours a day every day – from 8am to 8pm seven days a week, including weekends and bank holidays. Tel. 01753 635505 for more information.

We do have a small number of patients affected by Norovirus, the ‘winter vomiting bug’, who are being isolated and cared for according to strict infection control guidelines, either in side rooms or in a defined area within the hospital. This is in line with national guidelines and is being carried out to reduce the risk of cross infection.

We would like to reassure patients and visitors that this is a small number of patients and that Norovirus is not the cause of the bed pressures. However, hand hygiene is one of the key ways of reducing the spread of infection and as such remains a high priority for the Trust. We are asking all visitors, patients and staff to be extra vigilant in following hand hygiene guidelines, to wash hands thoroughly with soap and water and to use the alcohol gel provided.

It is also very important that people who have had the virus, or been in contact with someone who has had symptoms, take precautions to avoid spreading it. That means not visiting the hospital until two days after the symptoms have stopped. We are also asking people to think carefully if they need to visit the hospital, and to limit the number of visitors to patients until further notice.”