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Community Health Centres

Volume 72: debated on Friday 1 February 1985

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asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many community health centres are (a) in existence and (b) in the planning stage; how these are, or are to be, funded and staffed; how many clients are, or are to be, served; what facilities or services are, or will be, provided; and what is their relationship to other health and local authority services.

The most recent (1983) figures show that health authorities have provided 1,093 health centres, with 29 more in the planning stage. The services provided at any centre will be those normally available from general medical practitioners contracted to a family practitioner committee who wish to practice there; and community health services provided by staff employed by the health authority concerned, to the extent that it feels appropriate in the light of local needs and resources. Accommodation is sometimes provided for the staff of local authority social service departments, but that will depend upon local arrangements. Information is not collected centrally about the number of people served by health centres. This will depend upon the number of general practitioners based at each centre, and the local organisation of other services provided there.