New fears for future of Grade 1-listed Finsbury Health Centre

Published: 27 August 2010
by TOM FOOT

THE future of Berthold Lubetkin’s Finsbury Health Centre has been plunged further into doubt after Department of Health officials admitted they had no idea what would happen to the Grade I-listed building if the primary care trust is abolished.

Conservative Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s reforms include proposals to scrap NHS Islington – but it is unclear what will happen to its assets, which include the Pine Street building.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said they were consulting with the “NHS management community” and GPs about the transition, adding: “We are not in a position to comment on that – it is something we will set out in due course.”

Islington health chiefs are also in the dark about what will become of the famous building after they are abolished. The fear is they may attempt to rush through their plans to sell the centre before their 2013 deadline.

Islington councillors on the health scrutiny committee will decide on Thursday whether to refer the decision to shut the centre to the Secretary of State. The committee’s in-depth report was rejected last month at a meeting in NHS Islington’s headquarters.

A NHS spokeswoman said: “The world in which the NHS is now operating also needs to be taken into account; the amount of capital funding available to PCTs has been dramatically reduced and the recent government White Paper has not yet made it clear who will be responsible for the current assets and buildings of PCTs when they no longer exist.”