Plans to relocate a medical centre which has served the Golders Green community for more than 70 years have been scrapped, after an outcry by local residents.
The Ravenscroft Medical Centre, which serves around 7,000 people, a few thousand of them Jewish, was set to relocate to Finchley Memorial Hospital early next year. The move was opposed by a large number of residents – particularly the elderly, who argued that the three mile journey would be “disastrous” for patients, making it “physically impossible to reach”.
Despite objections from residents and local rabbis, there had been fears that a consultation by the Barnet Clinical Commissioning Group on the matter was little more than window dressing. At a meeting of the CCG in August after the consultation, where the move was agreed, an attendee described it as “from the beginning a foregone conclusion”.
Both Conservative and Labour councillors had spoken out against the planned relocation. Last week, Finchley and Golders Green MP Mike Freer reportedly met Health Secretary Matt Hancock to discuss the issue.
