A VICTORIAN hospital in Beckenham is going to be knocked down to make way for a new health centre, if £15m of Government funding is found.
The majority of the 230 people who packed Beckenham public hall last week gave the thumbs up to Bromley Primary Care Trust's (PCT) plan to modernise health services in Beckenham and Penge.
These plans include the proposed new health centre, to be built by 2004, which will be a public private partnership, and will have more services than the existing hospital, including a minor injuries unit and GP practices on site.
The PCT's aim is for the health centre, along with a health centre in Penge and Orpington Hospital, to support the new acute hospital, in Farnborough, which is due to open in 2003.
At the meeting, organised by Copers Cope Residents' Association, concerns were raised about demolishing the 1872 listed hospital and the public/private involvement in building the health centre.
Waylands Avenue resident Stuart Dixon asked: "Why can't the existing building be extended and how do we know the private partner will not want to sell some of the site off for luxury flats?"
To which PCT chief executive Bridget Riches replied: "We genuinely don't know who the private partner will be but we have to put a Government bid in for this money to make sure services in Bromley are fit for the 21st century."
She said the back-up plan, if the bid is not accepted, would be spending £5m on extending the existing site.
But she said it would not be easy to fit new equipment, such as a digital thorascopy unit for chest x-rays, into old buildings.
After the two-hour meeting, the majority of residents voted for the PCT's propsals.
This means the PCT can now put in a bid for "LINK" funding (£1bn the Government has put aside to modernise primary care facilities up and down the country) by November 2.
Bromley Community Health Council is organising a meeting to discuss plans for Orpington Hospital on October 18, at Petts Wood Methodist Church, in Queensway, Orpington. It starts at 7.15pm.
October 8, 2001 14:09
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