The government has given the strongest hint yet that it is siding with the local health authority wanting to shut down Finsbury Health Centre.
An NHS Islington board meeting is due to be held on July 22 to respond to the local council’s demand that the north London grade I listed building, designed by Berthold Lubetkin, should be retained as a health centre.
The health trust wants to sell the complex and relocate services elsewhere, arguing that it would cost too much to bring the crumbling 1938 structure up to scratch.
Speaking during a House of Commons debate on the centre last week, health minister Paul Burstow said: “I understand the [NHS] trust has pursued various sources to fund the refurbishment, including the Heritage Lottery Fund, but these have not been available due to the eligibility criteria used.
“With this in mind, clearly there is an important issue that needs scrutinising about the costs and benefits of keeping the health centre open. Would that money be better spent on providing services to local people elsewhere rather than in the existing building?”
The minister said the trust had estimated it would cost £1 million a year to keep the centre open – as opposed to £600,000 in rent for a new building.
But Islington MP Emily Thornberry questioned whether these figures are correct.
“That estimate is based on a stage 1 costing exercise… and it was not carried out by an expert in historic buildings,” she said. “Whenever I have met NHS Islington it seems to come up with a new figure as to how much this would cost.”
Barring a change of heart by the trust, a final decision on the future of the centre, which was last refurbished 16 years ago, is likely to be made by health secretary Andrew Lansley.
Thornberry said she was “very concerned” the trust would allow the health centre to deteriorate in the meantime.
An NHS Islington spokeswoman said “basic maintenance” of the building would be carried out to allow it to continue as a health centre but admitted: “No major refurbishment works will be undertaken until a clear decision has been made about the future of the building.”
No comments yet