Row over new name for Birmingham health centre

Nov 30 2009 by James Cartledge, Birmingham Mail

PATIENTS at a Birmingham clinic have accused health officials of dragging their feet over controversial plans to re-name its new building.

The Colston Health Centre, on Bath Row, in the city centre, is named after Dr Brian Colston who campaigned for 30 years to have purpose-built premises introduced at the site.

But Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust is keen on re-naming the centre when it re-locates a few yards down the road.

Bridgit Pearce, who is on the patients’ panel at the centre, said it was “ridiculous” that a final decision had not yet been made on whether the name would change and, if so, to what.

She urged health officials to speed up the process and keep centre users informed.

But the Trust said it hoped a decision on any new name would be made in the near-future.

“First of all, we do not want the centre to be re-named,” Mrs Pearce said.

“It would be a total insult to Dr Colston who worked so hard for so many years for the good of the community. Without him the centre wouldn’t be here because he was so inspirational.

“But I just can’t understand why it is taking so long for them to decide.

“They are just dragging their feet.

“I mean, how long does it take to name a building?” A spokeswoman for the Trust could not give an exact date for when any new name for the relocated centre would be revealed.

She said: “A decision regarding the name of the centre is hoped to be made shortly.”

Earlier this year, patients were enraged when they found out a leaflet had been distributed by the Trust offering residents the chance to win £100-worth of retail vouchers for coming up with a name for the new building.

Patients claimed that, should the centre be re-named, officials had promised to look into options to name one of the rooms in the practice after the pioneering figure.

But Mrs Pearce, who has used the centre for more than 30 years, said down-grading Dr Colston’s honour “beggared belief”.

Dr Colston began working in Birmingham in 1956.

At that time, the city did not have a single health centre and the ten existing centres nationwide were under-achieving.

He believed quality health-care in the community could not develop until a number of services and personnel could be housed under one roof.

Dr Colston retired in 1991 with an MBE and the centre he was instrumental in creating was re-named after him.

A planning application for a new building on the Crest Nicholson Marketing Suite site was approved by Birmingham Council on July 16.