Construction work begins on new health and wellbeing hub in Havering
02 Dec 2022
Construction work is under way on a new health and wellbeing centre in Hornchurch.
A ground-breaking ceremony took place today (Friday 2 December) to mark the official start of building work for the St George’s Health and Wellbeing Hub, off Sutton’s Lane.
It comes after the Government granted final approval for the scheme, which will bring together a range of health, social care and community services within brand-new, purpose-built premises serving people across Havering and its neighbouring boroughs.
Health and care partners across north east London have been working together for a number of years to design the hub, on the site of the old St George’s Hospital.
Contractors have spent the last few weeks clearing the site, and today representatives from project partners were joined at the official ground-breaking ceremony by senior staff from McLaren Construction Group which is undertaking the building work.
Zina Etheridge, Chief Executive Officer at North East London Health and Care Partnership, said: “Today’s event marks another key milestone for the project – we’re absolutely thrilled that work can finally get under way on this fantastic new health centre after years of planning and consultation with local people.
“Providing a range of health and care services in one place, right in the heart of the community, will make an enormous difference to so many people’s lives both now and in the future.”
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: “It’s brilliant to see shovels hitting the ground for the new St George’s Health and Wellbeing Hub, backed by £17 million of government funding as part of our plans to upgrade over 70 hospitals across the country.
“This successful partnership with health and care providers and the voluntary sector will offer a one stop shop to improve both physical and mental wellbeing for local people in North East London – from early diagnostic services for cancer, to mental health support and spaces for community groups to meet.”
Jacqui Van Rossum, Acting Chief Executive of North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT), said: “Today we’re marking the beginning of this exciting development which will ultimately provide greater access to healthcare services to our Havering and neighbouring borough communities.
“As we work together in partnership with health and care providers and the voluntary sector, we will be focused on improving the health and wellbeing of our local population. We’re looking forward to opening the doors of St George’s Health Wellbeing to deliver care – when and where people need it most.”
Councillor Ray Morgon, Leader of Havering Council, said: “This is an exciting and much anticipated day for local residents and the borough. The building of a new health and wellbeing hub will bring together some additional first class facilities for this part of the borough. It means many residents who currently have to travel to different parts of Havering for their health needs will now have them on their doorstep.”
Shane DeGaris, Group Chief Executive Officer at Barts Health NHS Trust and Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “I’m delighted that construction of this hub has started today. It will help us to provide vital services and better care for all communities across north east London.”
Richard Eager, Head of Healthcare at McLaren, said: “High quality care and health facilities are vital in helping communities thrive.
“Our experienced team is at the heart of creating critical facilities and helping people in the greatest need, by delivering St George’s Health and Wellbeing Hub in Havering. Having completed the site clearing, we’re now ready to begin construction work on this transformational healthcare project.”
St George’s Health and Wellbeing Hub is scheduled for completion by March 2024. Once open, it will give people easy access to a range of primary care, mental health and prevention services, along with some early diagnostic services for cancer.
The site will also include provision for local voluntary and community groups, with facilities such as a community café, multi-purpose education and meeting spaces, as well as a sensory, dementia-friendly communal garden.
More information on the project is available on the NHS NELFT Foundation Trust website.
Hornchurch health centre given green light by government
5th December 2022
The Hornchurch and Upminster MP, Julia Lopez, and Ray Morgon, leader of Havering Council, were among those at the ceremony marking the start of construction on St George’s Health and Wellbeing Hub (Image: NHS North East London)
Construction has begun on a new multi-million-pound health centre in Hornchurch, after the Government gave the major project the go-ahead.
To be built on the former St George’s Hospital site in Suttons Lane, St George’s Health and Wellbeing Hub is designed to deliver a range of health, social care and community services, with facilities including a community café and a sensory, dementia-friendly communal garden.
Contractors had already begun clearing the site, though the North East London Health and Care Partnership was awaiting approval from the Government before construction work could begin.
Integrated Health and Wellbeing Hub in Hornchurch
In a 12 week engagement period running from 22 November 2021 to 13 February, 2022 local people from Havering, Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham were invited to share their views on proposals for a new integrated Health and Wellbeing Hub in Havering. The report on engagement activity was submitted to the project board in March and has now been approved by the CCG’s governing body. The report is available for download below.
- How did we engage?
- Engagement feedback and how we will address it
- Why do we need an Integrated Health and Wellbeing Hub?
- Background
New research shows Merton patients wellbeing boosted by life changing service
Results of a new study released this week revealed people in Merton who used the social prescribing service said their wellbeing improved by 26% after support from the social prescribing service.
GP practices in the programme signpost patients to non-medical services in the community – from walking or community groups where they can meet new friends to employment, benefits or housing advice.
Evidence from the study showed patient GP visits reduced by 23% after the specialist support.
Social prescribing is now widely recognised nationally as an important link between people with health issues and their communities and local services that can support them.
Merton was one of the early leaders in piloting and developing the service, which is why it has taken part in this study to further demonstrate the impact social prescribing can have.
Dr Mohan Sekeram, Merton CCG lead for social prescribing and GP at Wide Way Medical Centre said: “We have witnessed at first hand the benefits expanding the programme has brought to improve patients’ lives and freeing up GP time. This research demonstrates the positive impact the teams work has had, and I want to thank them for their dedication and commitment in making it such a success story.”
The programme involved close collaboration with Merton Council, the voluntary sector and faith communities working closely with all Merton’s 22 GP Practices.
A team of link workers provide the vital support for patients to reach community services and social opportunities to reduce isolation.
Full details of the research which was carried out between 2016-2019 can be found here.
Since this study the programme has also been expanded to Wandsworth so a total of 38 GP Practices are now offering the service.
Contact Information
Press Office SWL CCG
South West London CCG
Lavender Hill Group Medical Practice strikes GOLD!
A GP Practice in Wandsworth has been awarded a GOLD Pride in Practice award for delivering fully inclusive healthcare services to their patients.
Pride in Practice is a quality assurance support service delivered by LGBT Foundation that strengthens and develops a GP practice’s relationship with their lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ+) patients and delivered in partnership with the Wandsworth LGBTQ+ Forum.
Lavender Hill Group Medical Practice received the awarded because staff have embraced changes such as increasing visibility of LGBTQ+ services in the waiting area, improved recording of sexual orientation and making small tweaks to language to be more inclusive of people with same-gender partners.
More broadly a range of services are available for all patients which also support the LGBTQ+ community, including a free health improvement service supporting people to improve their wellbeing by getting involved in local activities, volunteering and taking part in free exercise classes.
On the day of the award, practice staff gathered to have their picture taken and celebrate their achievement. A supported assessment was also completed with representation from the clinical and clerical teams.
Dr Owen Carter, a GP partner at the practice and Wandsworth Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) clinical lead for cancer, said:
“As a GP, I’m proud to support a wide range of LGBTQ+ patients and it’s a privilege to be part of their healthcare. The Pride in Practice award has given the practice the opportunity to evidence our commitment to the Equality Act”.
Dr Carter added: “My hope is that neighbouring GP practices will take this opportunity to provide more inclusive services to LGBTQ+ patients and arrange training with the LGBT Foundation and work toward a GOLD award.”
Speaking about the supported assessment, Practice Manager Nargis Khan said, “It’s really useful to have a chance to think about these issues in a different way and to think about how we can make our service as inclusive as possible”
Jacob Bayliss, Pride in Practice Coordinator, said, “The practice staff were fantastic to work with throughout. They were enthusiastic about making small changes that make a big difference to LGBTQ+ people, like wearing lanyards and badges, ensuring lesbian and bisexual women are taking up cervical screening by having important and inclusive conversations, and being confident about their role in meeting the needs of the trans patients. I was delighted to present them with a very well-deserved GOLD award”
The practice now receives ongoing support from Pride in Practice, including regular LGBTQ+ resources, information on local specialist services, and access to the Pride in Practice compendium and a national network of GP Champions.
Further information
If you have any questions, would like further information about the changes or would like someone from the CCG to come and talk to your organisation about these changes, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Ladies and Gentlemen…
DENISE GET’S THEM OUTEN!
I enter the pristine retro foyer of the Quay Grand to the sounds of publicists gushing about how excited Denise Van Outen is to meet me. Apparently the host of the British TV show Something for the Weekend has insisted that the guy from the “gay paper” interviews her last so she can fart out loud, whack out her tits and indulge in some smutty dialogue without having to worry about being unfairly stereotyped. A fair enough assumption I think to myself, that is, assuming all gay men can be relied on to appreciate gratuitous flatulence and genital innuendo. Fortunately Van Outen’s trademark filth is not wasted on me.
After reading several magazine articles on Denise Van Outen and catching a quick glimpse of her sex and relationship game show, Something for the Weekend, I was ready to meet a brazen blonde with a mouth like a sewer. To my surprise, however, as she gabbed my hand and shook it firmly, her hair was pink. Everything else thankfully was in check. At once her mouth was foul and her attitude suitably audacious. We launched immediately into casual banter like old friends who’d been clubbing and popping ecstasy together since the mid-eighties. It was that sort of straight girl/gay boy instant bonding we all know so well. Trust in place, Denise began discussing her vagina. Now was as good a time as any to press play on my Dictaphone and begin the interview.
The British are masters of sexual innuendo, you know like Carry On films, Benny Hill and Are You Being Served? Something for the Weekend throws sexual innuendo out the window and gets straight to the point doesn’t it? It’s not like “wink, wink, nudge nudge”.
It’s more like “wank, wank, nudge nudge”.
Is this a first for British TV?
It kind of is in the sense that it has a female presenter hosting the show. It’s very new. Nobody’s ever done that. We have a lot of stand up comedians who can get away with that sort of humor, who are guys. But you get a female doing it and its really rare. But then also we have kind of in-your-face kind of shows that actually go much further than what this show does. You know in the UK at the moment we’ve got those real doco-soap shows, you know where we follow people around, kind of like the Shipwrecked thing but with groups of teenagers who are on holiday at Ibetha or the Caribbean or Greece and you see everything. This is kind of like that but it’s done in such a cheeky way.
It’s a clever show in parts. It’s not just obvious humour all the way through.
Are the concepts in the show all your ideas?
Well this whole show came about because I’ve now got my own production company in London called Whack ‘em Out productions because I say, “If in doubt whack em out.”
(Laughing)
You like that don’t you?
I have a gender specific equivalent, “flop it out.”
That’ll be yours then “If in doubt, flop it out.” Every time I see you now I’ll say “flop it out boy!”
I don’t know whether it’ll be a “flop” sound.
[Pretending to be embarrassed] So anyway back to the interview. So I teamed up with this team in London and this is what we came up with. You see this show is not so much about me it’s more about the people on the show. They give us the stories that give us the ideas for the games.
So when you were a little girl did you sit around with your brothers and sisters thinking up game concepts about sex? Do you have that history?
I don’t know about that. You see in England I’m known for doing shows like The Big Breakfast and everyone said to me it won’t work [Something for the Weekend] because then I was all about seaside humour and innuendo and I could get away with it because it was on at 7 o’clock in the morning when people are getting ready for school and work and it was really quite shocking. So when I said I wanted to take it a little bit further people said it wouldn’t work, it would be too rude, people would find it offensive, but they don’t. People now laugh and joke about these sort of things, it’s a way of life really.
What about Jerry Lewis’s comments about female comedians recently. Did you hear what he said?
No, what did he say?
He said he imagined women as the bearer of children not up on stage making fart jokes.
Fuck him!
Thank you.
Tell him Denise Van Outen said “fuck him” and then she farted.
[Laughter]
Moving on. So in the show I watched, you made everyone in the audience picture their parents having sex and then one poor guys parents appeared on stage in bed together and then you tested his knowledge on how much he knew about his parents sex life. He won money for the right answers. Is that a regular thing?
The thing is about this show is it’s not really formatted. Sometimes we play the same game but with a twist, like that game you just mentioned, Honey Lets Embarrass The Kids. In the UK we had this gay couple with one of the guys son’s and we played the game with them.
How did that go?
It went really well. It was so funny because they were so up for it and he [the son] was so shocked, he couldn’t believe that his Dad and his partner were suddenly in bed together on stage. But it was great and they were so funny, they really hammed the whole thing up.
Are you going to do that in the Australian version?
Well I don’t know. I can’t give too much away because I want people to watch the show but that is the kind of thing you can expect. Expect the unexpected.
From here the interview degenerated into a giggly conversation about Denise’s tits. Frustrated trying to search for the appropriate superlatives to describe them, she eventually gave up and just showed me. And that was that.
The Australian version of Something for the Weekend called How Much Do You Love Me is currently being filmed in Melbourne naturally with that naughty vixen Denise Van Outen at the helm. The show hits our TV screens sometime in July. Watch my column for details.
Thursday, October 17, 2002
The “Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras” will live on
South Sydney City Council yesterday met with the President, Julie Regan, and Secretary Jennifer Wilson, of Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Ltd to discuss the future of the organisation and the annual gay & lesbian parade.
Arising from these discussions, Council expressed an interest in purchasing, in trust for the gay & lesbian community, all rights to the names “Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras” and “Sleaze Ball” and all the logos, trade marks and intellectual property associated with the Mardi Gras branding.
“The Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras deserves the support of the broad community” said Mayor John W. Fowler.
“Some mistakes have been made. However, the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras is not a company listed on the stock exchange. It is a celebration of our tolerance”
“Mardi Gras should not be allowed to disappear or be sold to commercial interests”
“The Mardi Gras is important on so many levels for the queer community and for this city and its economy. It is also important for the international image of Australia as a tolerant and diverse society,” he said
“Given this, I believe the way the State Government has responded is shameful and extremely disappointing”
“I hope, out of these dark times, with the support of Sydney’s gay & lesbian community, a new organisation can arise to organise this annual celebration,” he said.
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Media contact:
Ben Tunstall
9288 5005
0414 616 986