A traditional ‘topping out’ ceremony took place on Friday 12 April  2019 to celebrate the structural completion of the new health centre in Dulwich.

The Mayor of Southwark, Cllr Catherine Rose, and Dulwich and West Norwood MP, Helen Hayes, joined the CCG’s Director of Finance, Malcolm Hines, to ‘top-out’ the new building – marking another significant stage in the health centre’s development.

Each said a few words about the new health centre; emphasising how the development has been shaped by local people and highlighting the new hub’s central role in delivering more joined-up and accessible health and wellbeing services in Dulwich and south Southwark.

Following the speeches, attendees donned their hard hats and high-visibility jackets before taking to the roof for the formal ‘topping out’ ceremony, where they were invited to demonstrate their cementing and brick-laying skills.

Malcolm Twite, Chief Commercial Officer for Community Health Partnerships said: “Achieving this construction milestone is great news, especially for patients and staff.  We are a significant step closer in delivering a fantastic environment for staff to provide excellent clinical services, and patients will benefit from state-of-the art facilities for treatment.   

“I am delighted that through collaboration and partnership working we have helped local NHS partners realise their vision to integrate care in Dulwich and the surrounding area.”

CCG Director of Finance, Malcolm Hines, said: “Today’s ceremony marks another exciting step in the development of this landmark project – one that will bring significant benefits to patients in Dulwich and south Southwark. 

“The new health centre will improve access to GP and community care by delivering a range of health and wellbeing services all under one roof. This is the future of healthcare in Southwark: community partners working closely together to ensure services are more joined-up, personalised and responsive to the needs of patients.” 

Helen Hayes, MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, said: “It is very exciting to see the rapid progress that is being made on the building of the new Dulwich Health Centre – congratulations to everyone involved!

“I look forward to the opening of our new health centre in a year’s time, and to seeing the long-held vision for the Dulwich Hospital site as a centre for both excellent community health services and education come to fruition.”

The project is part of the CCG’s work to improve GP and community-based health services in Dulwich and south Southwark.

On schedule to open in a phased approach from April 2020, the new health centre will house a range of healthcare and community services, including a GP surgery, children’s and mental health services, x-ray, kidney dialysis, physiotherapy and some hospital outpatient clinics. It has also been designed so that it can also accommodate non-clinical community services, such as exercise classes, education sessions and a spaces for voluntary sector activities.

With the structural work now finished, the development team is working with local people to design the building’s interior, and liaising with NHS and community partners to finalise the services that will occupy the health centre, once the development work is fully complete.

The design, build, funding and operation of the new health centre is through the NHS LIFT (Local Improvement Finance Trust) programme – a public private partnership (PPP) led by Community Health Partnerships (CHP) and working in collaboration with Southwark Clinical Commissioning Group, and the local LIFT partner South London Health Partnership (SLHP).

Sarah Beaumont-Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Fulcrum, said: “SLHP is proud to partner with CHP and the CCG to deliver this modern new health centre. We look forward to the continuing success of this partnership in serving the needs of the Dulwich and south Southwark community.”

Find out more about the development of the new health centre, including the background to the project and the progress that’s been made so far, at www.southwarkccg.nhs.uk

Update

The Tessa Jowell Health Centre opened in May 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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