South East London General Practitioner Centre.

THE background of this project dates back to 1955 when discussions first took place between representatives of the London County Council, the South-East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board, the College of General Practitioners and the London Local Medical Committee to explore the possibility of establishing a centre where diagnostic and treatment facilities would be available to local general practitioners, and it might also be possible to. undertake the undergraduate teaching of general practice. The London County Council had for a long time wished to use such a centre to establish medico-social research facilities, and the college to undertake general practitioner research. Meetings took place in I956 at which considerable interest was shown by the local doctors and it could be assessed that there would be adequate support for the scheme to go ahead. In I957 the London County Council reached agreement with the Ministry of Health and the London Executive Council and gave authority for the formation of a committee to explore all the possibilities and to enter into discussions with those bodies who would be concerned. Final approval was given by the Ministry of Health in November 1958. A small and enthusiastic band of local family doctors had never wavered in their allegiance to the concept of this Centre and, throughout the years from I956 onwards, worked energetically on the various detailed problems concerned with the ultimate form and administration of the unit. The Director was appointed in 1958 to enable him to take a full part in the detailed planning of the Centre and to assist in co-ordinating the wishes of the local doctors who were the inspiration behind the scheme. The Centre was ceremonially opened on February i6, I96I, by the Lord Cohen of Birkenhead and ready to receive patients on March i, which is its official birthday. This is, in fact, a pioneer project and the only one of its exact kind in the United Kingdom. It is for this reason that the words 'health centre' do not appear in the title of the unit. The two other centres, which can be labelled as diagnostic centres, at Corby and Edinburgh, resemble it to some extent but each have their differences.