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Whitehall is next stop in health centre battle
• THE Campaign to Save Finsbury Health Centre would like to thank all those who signed and collected signatures for our petition asking Health Secretary Alan Johnson to ensure there is money to refurbish Finsbury Health Centre and keep its NHS services there.
We will be handing in the signatures at 11am on Wednesday, at the Richmond House headquarters of the Department of Health in Whitehall. Many readers of the Tribune have been staunch supporters and I hope as many as possible will join us there.
If Whitehall seems too far there’s always the public Primary Care Trust (PCT) board meeting at its headquarters, 338-346 Goswell Road, at 9.30am on Thursday, January 29, where a decision on the current proposals is to be reached and we will be making a deputation.
In recent correspondence, Islington PCT (now rebranded NHS Islington – how much did that cost?) has doubled the previously quoted estimate for refurbishment to more than £9million, “backed” by a costing per square metre (£5,974) which John Allan, conservation architect and friend of Lubetkin, said was the highest he had seen for either a refurbishment or new build in 40 years of practice.
We suggested the formation of a community trust in order to raise money and oversee the refurbishment – as was successfully done for the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea – but this idea was brushed aside by the PCT without comment.
We have been advised that, if at the end of this month the board decides to accept the proposals to abandon the Finsbury Health Centre and relocate its services, there are solid grounds for a judicial review.
There is still time to sign the petition online at www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/stop-the-sell-off-of-the-finsbury-health-centre.html or leave a comment on our website, www.savefhc.org.uk.
If you have any signatures on paper please get them to 18 Wilmington Square, WC1X 0ER as soon as possible, or phone me on 020 7833 1395.
Again, many thanks for the support – nearly 1,800 signatures at this stage, with many individual letters to the PCT, MPs for Islington, Camden and the City, and sterling contributions to the November 6 meeting, which we are slowly making available on our website.
BARB JACOBSON
Margery Street, WC1
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