St Mark’s Hospital is ‘important’ to hospital trust – but no word on the minor injuries unit

The matter of St Mark’s Hospital – about which residents have been awaiting news for some time - was raised at a meeting of Frimley Health Trust on Wednesday.

As well as providing an update on Heatherwood Hospital, apologising for patient waiting times and highlighting some of the struggles the hospital trust is facing, the Frimley Health Annual Members’ Meeting touched on St Mark’s, following a question from a Royal Borough councillor.

Cllr Donna Stimson (Con, St Mary’s) raised the topic of the hospital, echoing perennial concerns by residents over its status. Cllr Stimson did not make explicit mention of its much-missed minor injuries unit.

The unit closed ‘temporarily’ in April 2020. Several members of NHS staff were redeployed to temporary roles forming part of the response to the COVID-19 crisis.

In October last year, East Berkshire Clinical Commissioning Group (which merged with other services into Frimley CCG in April 2021) said the permanent closure of the unit was ‘not being considered’.

The last update on St Marks was in January of this year. A spokesman for Frimley said that surges in COVID cases had caused challenges in workforce availability, meaning the unit would remain shut for now.

The Advertiser requested an update last month from Frimley – but received no news as to when it might reopen.

At the Frimley meeting on Wednesday (September 28), Cllr Stimson said: “We have so many residents who wish they could use it [St Mark’s] more fully. It used to have more services than it has at the moment.”

Cllr Stimson wanted to raise the matter with Frimley so as to ‘not just let [St Mark’s] hang’.

But if Cllr Stimson was hoping for specifics, none were forthcoming.

Neil Dardis, chief executive at Frimley Health Trust, acknowledged ‘the importance of providing local services’ and outpatient procedures ‘wherever possible.’

“Hospitals are now very busy and we need to provide more care locally,” he said. “St Mark’s is important to us.”