‘Health centre one of the worst in west London’
REPORT SAYS ‘OVERCROWDED’ FACILITY NEEDS TO BE RELOCATED
A LOT is said about how underfunded the health service is and how many hospitals and doctors’ surgeries are in desperate need of an upgrade.
However, it is not often we are told our hospitals and surgeries are so bad they should not even be being used, but that is exactly what has happened in the borough of Hillingdon, where developers have called one dilapidated health centre “one of the worst in west London”.
Yiewsley Health Centre is apparently so overcrowded that it is just not “fit for purpose”, according to a plan put forward by Hillingdon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and developer Taylor Wimpey to try to relocate it to a new site.
In their report to a council planning committee, they wrote: “The current Yiewsley Health Centre is one of the worst health facilities in west London and is no longer fit for purpose for the delivery of primary care to the local population.”
Currently, Yiewsley Family Practice and High Street Practice work from the existing health centre at 20 High Street.
In a report to the council’s planning committee it said the site has 17 clinical rooms, but five of them are just 10 square metres or under and “no room fully complies with healthcare standards”.
The practices were also flagged as having limited capacity for new patients.
From July 2015 to July 2020, the rise in patient numbers in the ward, including the third practice of Otterfield Medical Centre, was 12.8% to 27,571 patients.
However, it looks like patients will have to put up with the conditions a lot longer after plans to move the centre were turned down by the council due to the new proposed location being at risk of flooding.
Hillingdon Council’s major planning applications committee unanimously refused the plan put forward by Hillingdon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and developer Taylor Wimpey, for being “in the wrong place”.
The joint application wanted to build a new five and six-storey health centre and 233 flats at the former B&M retail store at 217 High Street, in Yiewsley.
Of the homes, 79 were earmarked for affordable housing.
In the meeting on February 24, council officers recommended for the plan to be ditched as it is an area of “high flood risk” where inappropriate development “should be avoided”.
According to the report, 93% of the site is within Flood Zone 2 of medium probability, while smaller areas of the site are within Flood Zone 3 of high probability.
Councillors were told there were concerns the area would increasingly become Flood Zone 3 in the years to come, with the risk of flooding from the River Pinn and Grand Union Canal.
However, in a statement from Hillingdon CCG and Taylor Wimpey, they said the Environment Agency recognised the site had never been flooded and that the plan included drainage mitigation measures to keep the residents and patients safe.
Despite suggestions of alternative sites by the council, such as redeveloping the existing health centre, the applicants said it was “not viable or practical” due to having to place current patients into temporary accommodation for two years.
They said no other sites in the area could provide the new-build, and it needs a development of 215-plus homes to make the health centre financially viable.
They added: “If permitted, these proposals would secure the delivery of the new NHS health facility in 2024 and end the 20-year search by the NHS for a new health facility site.”
The CCG pushed the case that the new site would have 22 rooms which could create the potential extra capacity for up to 10,000 people.
In a letter of support from Hillingdon CCG, managing director Caroline Morison said: “The existing Yiewsley Health Centre serves more than 18,000 patients and has been identified as a priority across northwest London for a new estates solution.
“Whilst some work has been undertaken recently to internally improve the centre, this does not mitigate the need to find a long-term solution for fit for purpose primary care health provision in an area of population growth.”
While councillors agreed the concept of the scheme was “very welcome” and had “significant merit”, the risk of flooding was a “red line” for councillors considering the impact on future residents at the site.
West Drayton councillor Janet Duncan said: “We very much need additional health provision here and this would have been a good way to do it, but having recently experienced flooding in my own ward of West Drayton where residents had to be moved out, it is a real worry and it is something we must, and have to by law, take very seriously.”
Cllr Becky Haggar added: “It is much needed – obviously it would be extremely beneficial. I think it’s just as simple as it’s just in the wrong place.
“We’ve just come from a flooding committee as we have massive issues around flooding, and what we’re going to just do is cause even more issues. I think it’s really important we do really take that on board – it’s not something just written down, this is actually happening these flooding issues.”