‘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.”
CHILDREN and young people in Hillingdon had to wait an average of 46 days for a follow-up appointment after their initial mental health referral, fresh analysis shows.
Meanwhile the average waiting times for a second appointment in Ealing, from data collected between April 2019 and March 2020, was 20 days, while Hounslow’s children waited on average 39 days.
The data comes from the Children’s Commissioner’s report on the state of children mental health services, which showed how Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in West London ranked low in data across 190 providers across the country.
In the findings published last month, CCGs were given a score out of 25, based on key indicators. These were the percentage of the CCG’s budget spent on children and young people’s mental health, mental health spend per child, the percentage of children and young people in contact with mental services, the average waiting time for services, and the percentage of mental referrals closed before treatment.
Hillingdon and neighbouring Hounslow both scored 13 out of 25, while Ealing ranked lower with 11 out of 25. The analysis found that for Ealing, three out of five of the measured indicators scored in the bottom 20 per cent.
Out of 190 CCGs included in the analysis, services scoring 13 or below were among the bottom 71 in the country.
Meanwhile East London Barking and Dagenham CCG was overall scored at 22 out of 25 - making it in the top 10 best in the country. It also had the best average waiting time in the country of just eight days for a second appointment.
The worst waiting time in the country was 87 days, recorded for NHS Fylde and Wyre CCG. Elsewhere in North West London, CCGs Brent and Harrow also scored low down the list at nine and 10 respectively. Reacting to the figures, Dr Onkar Sahota, the Greater London Authority member for Ealing and Hillingdon fears that the impact of the pandemic will have driven up demand for “already underperforming” mental health services.
He said: “We risk seriously letting young people down unless we give these services the support they need to get up to scratch.
“Lockdown and school closures have clearly taken their toll on many children, especially those stuck in cramped and overcrowded homes, temporary accommodation or abusive households.
“I want to see every young person in our borough able to access help when they need it, from services properly resourced by both CCGs and central government.”
According to government data, by the end of September 2020, 577 children in Hillingdon, and 3,232 children in Ealing were living in temporary accommodation.
He is also backing calls from the former Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield, who left the post last month, to expand the rollout of mental health support teams for joint action between schools and the NHS.
Dr Sahota added: “The ramifications of childhood mental ill health can be long lasting and devastating, so investment in early intervention isn’t just desirable, it’s crucial. I want to see the government recognise that and scale-up mental health support for children and young people”.
A spokesperson for North West London Health and Care Partnership said: “Access to community CAMHS services has improved over the past 12 months in line with the national standard set out by the NHS Long Term Plan. The CCG’s investment into children and young people’s mental health services has also increased in line with the expectations outlined by NHS England & NHS Improvement.
“This will go some way to address the rising demand for services as a result of Covid-19 as well as existing inequalities in access and outcomes, in order to improve services for children and young people.
“In addition, the CCGs are optimistic that funding awarded for their successful Mental Health Support Teams in Schools bid will go some way to ensure that schools have a bigger role in early intervention for children and young people’s mental health.”
We risk seriously letting young people down... early intervention isn’t just desirable, it’s crucial