Patients have accused health chiefs of ‘trying to sneak this scheme through on the quiet’

PATIENTS rallied at a demonstration with a warning to health chiefs: “Hands off our Peckwater!”

The visionary centre in Kentish Town – where GPs at the Caversham Practice, social care workers, and other public-funded services work together under one roof – is being threatened by a plan to create a new unit for Camden’s dialysis patients on the site.

Dozens of dialysis patients are in need of a new treatment home as they are getting booted out of the Kidney and Diabetes Centre in St Pancras Hospital that is being shut down due to a redevelopment.

Despite the proposals for a major overhaul being widely circulated among GPs and patient groups, detailed plans are yet to be made public officially.

Speaking at the protest on Tuesday, Roderick Allison, chair of the Caversham Patients Participation Group, said: “One of the things that infuriates us about this business is the total lack of consultation. They are trying to sneak this scheme through on the quiet, and hoping no one will find out. Well we are all here today to tell them they’ve been rumbled!”

A petition against any proposed closure has been signed by more than 20,000 people and campaigners gave a deputation to the health scrutiny committee before Christmas.

Dr Greg Clarkson, a partner at the Caversham, said he “sensed movement” following pressure from the practice and patients, adding: “This is a fantastic resource for our community. It is accessible to people who need it. We won’t get that if it’s a trip to a distant hospital. Yes we are supportive of dialysis, but there are many different ways that can happen. So thank you for your passion. They might not listen to us, but they will listen to you.”

GPs fought to set up the Peckwater Centre in the mid-1990s, for the first time bringing a number of services under one roof and attached to a GP surgery. The innovation has now become a goal for all health authorities across the country.

Patient Cathy Crawford, who lives in Lawford Road, said: “I remember when they built this place. We were thrilled. We get referred for all kinds of things and it is just next door. It would be such a loss to the community. Also, the garden is really important.”

There is a magnificent courtyard garden, maintained by volunteers, that has been proved a lifeline for patients of all the many services at the centre.

Deborah Schneebeli-Morell said: “The garden is a resource for patients but also for staff. In the summer we have people out here. There are tomatoes and cucumbers in the greenhouse. We are a bit stuck as we don’t know whether to invest in new projects.”

Rita Eccles, who lives in Highgate Road and has been in a wheelchair for 10 years, said: “I come here to use the gym. I used to do yoga to help me relax. The physio team was fantastic. And if I can’t get out the house, the doctor will come to my home. They have stand frames so I can stand up and talk to people. That’s fantastic for me to stand. It makes me happy that does. Take that a way, you know…”

She added that she would take her wheelchair in for a service or to replace a flat tyre.

Tony Price, 88, said: “I’ve been here my whole life and I remember before the NHS. They would do a home visit and it was two shillings that went to the surgery. People who have lived around here for a long time feel very strongly about this place.” Oriel is the new name for the Moorfields Eye Hospital that is moving into the site at St Pancras, causing the dialysis unit to have to leave.

The NHS were not at the protest to respond but in a recent letter to the New Journal, deputy chief executive of NCL Sarah Mansuralli said: “The Kidney and Diabetes Centre currently occupies the North Wing on the St Pancras Hospital site. The redevelopment of this site was the subject of a major public consultation in 2018… The redevelopment also facilitates Oriel, a world-leading centre for advancing eye health.

“We are considering the Peckwater Centre as a potential site for the Kidney and Diabetes Centre, and this is an ongoing process with no decisions yet made.”