Latest news with #RoyalBerkshireHospital
BBC News
4 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Royal Berkshire Hospital's share of £4.4m funding 'not enough'
Funding awarded to a hospital for repairs and refurbishments is "not enough", a local MP has said. The government announced a £4.4m shared grant for Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH) and Bracknell Liberal Democrat MP for Wokingham Clive Jones said the cash would "not touch the sides".The government said the funding would prevent appointments being cancelled and blamed "14 years of austerity" from previous administrations for the current problems in the NHS. The hospital, on Craven Road in Reading, was set to be rebuilt under the last government's new hospitals this has been delayed until at least 2037 by the current government, which said the previous plan was not affordable. Jones said the money was "very welcome" but "not enough"."We have £102m shortfall already and it's forecast to be up to £400m in the next 10 to 15 years," he said."So, £4.4m really does not touch the sides."He said he had met with Minister of State for Health Karen Smyth about the matter."Even if they give us £4.4m every year for the next 10 years we've still got a significant shortfall," he continued."I know the minister is well aware of the special circumstances of the Royal Berkshire and that there are parts of it that are 200 years old."Chief executive of RBH Steve McManus said he had also hoped for more funding. He said: "The hospital was in a losing battle against a constant need for repairs, with 50 operations being cancelled in 18 months due to estate disrepair, including power cuts, leaking roofs and collapsed ceilings."A spokesperson from the Department of Health and Social Care said: "We inherited a crumbling NHS following 14 years of austerity, including during the Lib Dems' time in office, but we are determined to turn this around."This week's investment is an essential step to make our hospitals safer and more efficient places to provide care."It added: "These works are funded through the Budget, which provided an extra £26 billion for health and care, and was voted against by the Lib Dems along with every other opposition party. Only Labour will rebuild our broken NHS." You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Parking machines covered amid move to cashless
A number of a town's parking machines have been covered up ahead of their removal as part of an equipment upgrade. Reading Borough Council said 75 new pay and display machines will be installed around the Berkshire town over the coming weeks. The machines will allow cashless payments only for on-street parking, using banks cards or mobile payment apps, including the existing RingGo system. Phil Grant, Reading Borough Council's parking services manager, said he believes the changes will save £35,000 per year. The transfer to cashless-only payments began on 1 March, after council committee approval on 20 January. Charges apply to parking in all council car parks, on-street parking bays, as well as long-term parking permits. The authority said it currently costs £10.67 per cash collection from each machine, amounting to £1,600 a month, which would be reduced to £350 per month under the cashless system, saving the council £15,000 per year. According to a report by Mr Grant, maintaining each current machine costs the council £266.66 a year - adding up to a total cost of about £44,000 annually. The new machines will not issue paper tickets but parking enforcement officers will be able to check payments have been made electronically. The local authority said machines will still accept cash in some areas where "there is proven high demand for this", such as around the Royal Berkshire Hospital. The move is part of wider parking reforms by the council, including possible emission-based parking tariffs and reducing the number of pay and display machines from 168 to approximately 75. A six-week statutory consultation on a proposal for emission-based parking charges closed on 30 March, with a final decision due to be made by the authority's traffic management subcommittee on 11 June. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. Parking meter vandalised after charges introduced Meters vandalised hours before park charges begin Parking charges to increase for town's polluting cars More than 20 councils moving to cashless parking RingGo Reading Borough Council
BBC News
26-04-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Reading parking machines covered up amid move to cashless
A number of a town's parking machines have been covered up ahead of their removal as part of an equipment Borough Council said 75 new pay and display machines will be installed around the Berkshire town over the coming machines will allow cashless payments only for on-street parking, using banks cards or mobile payment apps, including the existing RingGo system. Phil Grant, Reading Borough Council's parking services manager, said he believes the changes will save £35,000 per year. The transfer to cashless-only payments began on 1 March, after council committee approval on 20 apply to parking in all council car parks, on-street parking bays, as well as long-term parking authority said it currently costs £10.67 per cash collection from each machine, amounting to £1,600 a month, which would be reduced to £350 per month under the cashless system, saving the council £15,000 per to a report by Mr Grant, maintaining each current machine costs the council £266.66 a year - adding up to a total cost of about £44,000 new machines will not issue paper tickets but parking enforcement officers will be able to check payments have been made local authority said machines will still accept cash in some areas where "there is proven high demand for this", such as around the Royal Berkshire Hospital. The move is part of wider parking reforms by the council, including possible emission-based parking tariffs and reducing the number of pay and display machines from 168 to approximately 75.A six-week statutory consultation on a proposal for emission-based parking charges closed on 30 March, with a final decision due to be made by the authority's traffic management subcommittee on 11 June. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
BBC News
10-04-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Royal Berkshire Hospital's 'wondrous' myeloma treatment praised
"What they do is wondrous - they create a comfort zone for us, in the best sense of the term."Barry Neville, who was diagnosed with a form of blood cancer called myeloma in January 2012. He's thanked the team at Royal Berkshire Hospital, who have received a national award for their commitment to patients living with the hospital was presented with the Clinical Service Excellence Programme award from charity Myeloma UK. The 79-year-old from Wokingham, Berkshire, says: "I feel really fortunate and it all comes down to the hospital staff who are treating us, to their knowledge and their ingenuity."Barry adds: "It's not just the advance knowledge they have about myeloma but the medical team are remarkable in their ability to find a way to accommodate side effects, to help you cope with that. "And they're doing it on the run, as it were, because they never quite know what the patients are going to bring in." Myeloma affects more than 33,000 people in the UK, and is incurable but treatable in the majority of cases. The treatment can lead to periods of remission but the cancer does come one in two people wait more than five months before the right diagnosis, with one in three diagnosed in A&E. Speaking about his own diagnosis, Barry tells the BBC: "I was in some considerable pain with my back, thought I'd been overdoing it in the garden, and went to see our chiropractor. "He did something which produced this terrible pain in my back and I was sent by him to the GP in Wokingham."A doctor recognised Barry's symptoms, but by the time the cancer was caught he had a crushed vertebra and holes in his arms, legs, and skull. He was then enrolled in a clinical trial. 'Apprehensive' Last month he discovered that the cancer had come back for the fourth time, with new treatment due to start says he is "apprehensive" but determined to remain positive."Most people are lucky to last four months," Barry explains."I was treated early. I was given five years. I've now done 13 and I've seen loads of things I didn't expect to see."He adds: "Initially I thought this is it. I'll start planning for the end. "But lots of things happened. My son got engaged to be married a couple of months after my diagnosis. I was there for the wedding. I've seen a grandson who's 11 next week. "My wife and I celebrated our golden wedding anniversary. We've done 57 years now. I'm 80 in a month's time." Myeloma UK's Monica Morris told the BBC: "For people like Barry every day really counts. The more treatments that are available the more options help people live longer and better lives."She said the hospital won the award because they are "very willing to listen, to change, to adapt, and they've got a real appetite for doing the best they can, and constant improvement".Dr Pratap Neelakantan, consultant haematologist at the hospital, said the team was "extremely proud" to receive the award."This award symbolizes not just our achievements, but the strength and unity of our haematology department," he said."Here's to many more milestones ahead." You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
MP and hospital staff meet minister over rebuild
An MP, hospital staff and patients met a health minister to discuss what can be done to maintain a Berkshire hospital that will not be rebuilt until at least 2037. Parts of the Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH) in Reading are nearly 200-years-old, 95% of its lifts are beyond the end of their life and operations are regularly cancelled. RBH staff were previously told the hospital might have been replaced in 2031 but in January health secretary Wes Streeting said it will only be replaced between 2037 and 2039. Wokingham MP Clive Jones and senior staff including the hospital's chief strategy officer, Andy Statham, met health minister Karin Smyth on Wednesday. Jones said the meeting was "very productive" and that Smyth had pledged to help the hospital. "It's going to cost £300m to £400m over the next 10 years keep the estate going and we wanted to come up with a few ideas to make sure that we can keep the hospital going in reasonable condition," Jones said . "The repairs that we need, they have got to happen. They cannot be instead of a new hospital. We're bursting out of the seams of the hospital. "And in the next few years we are going to have so many more people to treat because health treatments are going to be improving an awful lot." Earlier this year, RBH bosses warned they were "losing the battle" against a constant need for repairs. Fifty operations were cancelled in 18 months due to estate disrepair, including power cuts, leaking roofs and collapsed ceilings. "We have got some really old buildings at the Royal Berkshire, some of which will be coming up to nearly 200-years-old. Every day we have challenges in providing safe care which our teams work really valiantly to do," Mr Statham said. "It's a difficult situation we know the minister's in. Their resources are really tight in the public sector at the moment and we understand the position. That doesn't mean that what we need is any less. "I think we got a real recognition of the challenges of what our patients face and our staff face but also a challenge to us: how can we think differently and how we can make use of community care, digital care, in order to manage things a bit differently in the future. "We're doing everything we can to provide high quality care for our patients in Berkshire." You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. Hospital's maintenance bill could hit £400m Planned £1.6bn Berkshire hospital rebuild delayed Major hospital relocation plans put to public New hospital could be built in five years, boss says Hospital should move to new site - trust chief Royal Berkshire NHS Trust
