Patients have told health chiefs who want to move a dialysis unit to a much-loved community health centre that they have “been rumbled”.
The Peckwater Centre, tucked away in a quiet Kentish Town side street, has been described as “the jewel in the crown” of health services.
This healthcare hub, which shares a building with the Caversham GP practice, brings together mental health, social care and wheelchair services under one roof.
But the area’s Integrated Care Board (ICB) is eyeing up the site as the "potential" new home for the Mary Rankin Dialysis Unit, which must move from St Pancras Hospital due to redevelopment work.
Yesterday morning (March 19), Caversham patients – described by one GP as a “charming and sometimes militant bunch” – staged a protest outside the Peckwater Centre.
Caversham Patients’ Participation Group chair Roderick Allison said: “They’re trying to sneak this scheme through on the quiet, hoping no one will find out.
“Well, we’re all here today to tell them they’ve been rumbled and we’re going to make sure everyone else knows.”
There was discontent among patients at the end of last year when with little warning, and no consultation, it was revealed that health bosses wanted to move the dialysis unit in.
One Caversham GP, Dr Stephen Amiel explained: “No one is disputing you need a dialysis unit somewhere. But the centre has always been about bringing the community in, bringing social care in.
“In terms of the direction of travel, this is going to set us back.
“If the council let this through, then what’s going to be lost?”
Dr Amiel, a partner at the practice for 44 years, said he felt that so far Camden Council had been “receptive” to patients’ pleas to save the Peckwater.
At a health and adult social care scrutiny committee, councillors told health chiefs they needed a clear plan for where the Peckwater services would go if the move went ahead.
Dr Kevin Clarkson, a managing partner at the practice, is doubtful anywhere else could provide what the Kentish Town hub offers.
He said: “The reason it matters that it is here is because its accessible to people in the estates around us, who will come and seek care here.
“But they won’t get that if it’s a trek to a distant hospital. Once it’s gone, there is no alternative, no plan to build anything else."
Long-time Caversham patients Sara Adams - who attends the Peckwater for physiotherapy appointments - and James Jacovides said getting around London is becoming “harder and harder”.
Sara, who is 86 and a kidney transplant patient, added: “They don’t think of the oldies.”
Others were worried about the future of the ‘listening garden’, which sits in a courtyard at the heart of the Peckwater Centre and Caversham GP surgery.
The garden, which belongs to the Peckwater but is often used by Caversham patients, is a key component of social prescribing by GPs.
Patient Deborah Schneebeli Morrell said: “We get prescriptions which are like walking or gardening. Those are all fantastically effective and you do hear of people who have been quite restored.”
North Central London ICB says none of the options under consideration will impact the Caversham Group practice or the garden.
A spokesperson added: “We are committed to finding a new location for kidney and diabetes services locally.
“The options appraisal process has not been completed and will be informed by stakeholder views.
“No decision has been made, and programme timescales will be adjusted to ensure that decision-making is robust.”
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