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9
RIVER PLACE HEALTH CENTRE
The health centre, situated close to Essex Road Underground Station, opened on 1st April, 1972.
Services provided include the following:-
General Practitioners
5 surgeries (7 doctors)
Borough
Ante Natal
Cervical Cytology
I.L.E.A.
Child Guidance
Special Investigation
Vision
Child Health
Chiropody
Creches
Family Planning
Prophylaxis
The initial proposal for the health centre was discussed with local General Practitioners and the Inner
London Executive Council; a fairly central site was found (no mean achievement in an area like Islington)
and discussion took place on the services to be included, the layout of the building, its staffing and equipment.
At each stage of the process consultation took place with various personnel involved. Among the factors
requiring consideration were the following. Did the doctors run appointment systems? (the waiting space
can be reduced by some 40% where appointment systems are in operation). How were patients to be called
to the consulting rooms from the reception area? What type of telephone system would be required? How
many receptionists? What form of record cabinet?
The premises designed for use as a health centre must not only meet present needs but must also have
regard to the potential demands of the future, and it is probably fair to say that most buildings, looked at
with the hindsight of the experience gained in running them, would have been designed differently. Within the
geographical and financial limits imposed, however. River Place compares favourablv with other modern
centres in terms of site area and services provided. The centre has been visited by numerous doctors, nurses,
planners, administrators and architects from various parts of England and from abroad, who have discussed
the problems of planning, design, systems, administration and inter-relationships of staff before embarking
on their own schemes.
In the modern health centre the team replaces the individual and the object is to bring together all
those involved in the provision of primary medical care for the purpose of providing a service acceptable to
the public and, at the same time, satisfying to the professional aspirations of all the staff. The team cannot
be held together by authoritative means, the democratic group is welded as a reality by each member having
respect for the other's discipline. The nurses, for example, are not mini-doctors but professionals in their
own right. Although such teamwork is not easy to achieve, this does not invalidate any means which aims
at its eventual achievement.
To achieve the efficiency preached for health centres, while maintaining a reasonably personal atmosphere,
a key factor is the attitude of every member of the centre's staff. Everyone must have a sense of
direction and a good working relationship.
One of the general practitioners at River Place has given the following account of his first few month's
experience at the Centre.
"It was with some apprehension and many mental reservations that I finally decided to enter the
health centre. My mind had been eased somewhat by the kind consideration, guidance and attention to the
wishes of the general practitioners that had been received from the Medical Officer of Health and the Executive
Council throughout the early planning stages, but I still had certain misgivings about the possibility of
a non-homogenous group of doctors and ancillaries working together in the same building.