[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Camden].

  • Camden (London, England). Borough Council.
Date:
[1969?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Camden]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/110 (page 3)
    1.1.3 Application is then made to the Department of Health and Social Security for permission to borrow the money necessary for the work to be done. 1.1.4 In all these matters I am greatly indebted to the Borough Architect and his staff (and in particular to Mr E.L. Ives, at that time Deputy Borough Architect, and Miss Elizabeth Young) for the enormous amount of work and tremendous interest which they have shown in endeavouring to provide the best solutions to the many problems which have arisen. Co-ordination and continuity of processing the various developments in the Health Department was entirely the responsibility of Dr R. Duncan Dewar, Associate Medical Officer of Health, who is also responsible for the descriptions which follow, ably assisted by Mr D.M. Pain who is in day-to-day adminstrative charge of the department's Planning and Information Section. 1.1.5 The advice and assistance of the Department of Health and Social Security (formerly Ministry of Health) have done much to solve many of the problems on which there was little if any former experience to use as a guide, and I would like to express my thanks to them. 1.1.6 During all the stages the Health Committee are kept fully informed, and the interest and encouragement of the Chairman and Members have been greatly, appreciated. 1.1.7 The following pages give details uf some of the schemes for the development of the health services which were completed, in progress, or in the planning stages, together with some schemes which have not materialised. LISMORE CIRCUS FAMILY HEALTH CLINIC AND DAY NURSERY 1.2.1 Redevelopment of the Gospel Oak area was proposed by the former St. Pancras Borough Council, and on the formation of the London Borough of Camden the opportunity was taken to include in the development plan purpose-built premises for the health services. 1.2.2 The original proposal was for a health centre which would replace the local health authority services provided at the Queen's Crescent and Parkhill Centres, and would accommodate general medical practitioners; together with a day nursery adjoining the centre which would replace the Kentish Town Day Nursery in Gospel Oak Grove. 1.2.3 In conjunction with the Inner London Executive Council all the general prac titioners practising within half a mile of Lismore Circus were consulted, but unfortunately adequate support was not forthcoming. At that time (1965) there was some distrust of the National Health Service amongst some general practitioners, and it was felt by some that to give up their own surgery premises and to work from premises controlled by the Executive Council would limit their freedom of action. The plan was, therefore, reluctantly amended to provide a family health clinic which would provide all the services from the two centres to be replaced, together with additional services particularly for the elderly. 1.2.4 The development of the area takes advantage of the slope of the whole site to provide a separation between pedestrians and vehicular traffic, and the family health clinic and the day nursery are being built on the pedestrian level. The building is being provided on the southern boundary of Lismore Circus and partly because of the proximity of the railway, which runs underground at that point, the building is ol one storey only. 1.2.5 The layout of the family health clinic and the day nursery is as shown on page (i). The centre is planned to be completed in the late autumn of 1970. 1.2.6 It is intended that when the services are transferred from the Parkhill Centre, the day nursery there will be enlarged by including the portion of the building used at present for clinic purposes. 1.2.7 It was necessary to close the Kentish Town Day Nursery to allow the develop ment to proceed and the children accommodated there were transferred to other day nurseries, including the Konstam Centre, where the alterations had most fortunately been completed in time. 3