group. The private sector has grown to make good some part of t deficiency. It is perhaps unlikely that growth would have been so rapi had there existed a comprehensive industrial or occupational healt service. At present, the extent to which the provident movement provides for this is limited and confined to only a narrow section of employment Nevertheless, the provident movement may well be the embryo of comprehensive employment-based or occupational health service. The opportunities for such a service, its place in the whole structured medical care and its significant economic contribution are well recog nised.19 It is along these lines that the future development of the private sector of medical care may lie. 19 Off sick, Office of Health Economics, 1971. Foreword The formal opening by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II of Stage I of this Project The Board and the Council are indebted to those of their members who with a We are indeed grateful to all those who have contributed to the briefing. planning, design and construction of the buildings and in the commissioning of the first phase We have no doubt that this sustained and co-operative effort will be continued during the period remaining until the project comes fully into operation in 1973 and will be developed by the staff of both the hospital and the clinical research centre in the treatment of patients who fall to their care. The Nature of the Project The Northwick Park Hospital and Origins The proposal for a combined Hospital and Centre arose from a coincidence of plans the Regional Board's wish to provide a much needed new district service in the Harrow and Wembley area, and a decision by the Medical Research Council that progress in the field of clinical research would best be encouraged by the co-ordination of the clinical, para clinical and non-clinical sciences in one large centre Work began on the project late in 1961. A project committee consisting of representatives of the Regional Hospital Board, the Medical Research Council and the Department of Health and Social Secunty (formerly the Ministry of Health) has been responsible for the management of the scheme calling on wide range of expert advice. The detailed design proposals were prepared for the committee by a project team of doctors, nurses. administrators and other specialist advisers from the authorities concerned, working in collaboration with the architects. and quantity surveyors. Building started in 1966 on the basis of The Tasks of the Hospital and Centre The district task is to provide a new the need for more specialized treatment or further diagnostic investigation than would be available in the district hospitai Some of these patients will alreads have been admitted to district beds others will be referred ether direct by local doctors or from other parts of the country Benefits from the Project There are many advantages to patients and to the community in this combination of research centre and hospital. Together they will be capable of providing care in illnesses which present special problems in diagnosis or in treatment The hospital and its patients with be on the threshold at advances in medical science and have access to the unique facilities of the research centre while the research workers will be in direct touch with the problems of disease as manifested in the community The Board and the Hospital Management Committee are particularly conscious of the fact that the district task of the hospital can be achieved only as part of the larger task of the total health care of the a task invobing population in the area number of different authorities. To this end the Board and the Management Committee have created a number of links with the community particularly with the local health services general practitioners and voluntary organisation, and are working to strengthen these ties |