 | Integrating Care: The architecture of the comprehensive health centre Subjects: Built Environment; Economics Finance Business & Industry; Health and Social Care; Social Sciences; Architecture; Business Management and Accounting; Public Health Policy and Practice; Sociology & Social Policy; Building Types; Professional Practice; Structure Materials and Detailing; Healthcare Administration and Management; Public & Nonprofit Management; Social Policy; This book provides a timely review of the contemporary interpretation of the 'comprehensive health centre', a building type that was originally advocated by health reformers in the UK in the first half of the twentieth century. The book discusses the development of this idea, the failure under the NHS to apply the idea in practice in the second half of the century and the recent emergence, in all four regions of the UK, of comprehensive health centres providing a wide range of health and social services, often linked to other community facilities. A review of the latest developments in comprehensive health centre design forms the core of the book in the form of detailed case studies of ten exemplary recent projects. Generously illustrated in full colour the case studies include plans, diagrams, photographs and analytical text, providing the reader with detailed information about a range of design approaches. Following devolution, NHS health policies in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales have begun to diverge and the role of the comprehensive health centre in the current health service of each country is assessed. Aimed at professionals, healthcare facilities providers and policy makers, the book also considers the opportunities for and obstacles facing the further development of the comprehensive health centre as an integral part of the infrastructure of the NHS in the future. Justin De Syllas trained at the AA and the Bartlett Schools of Architecture in London. After working for a number of leading architectural practices and teaching for several years he joined Avanti Architects in 1985, where he was a director for 26 years. He acted as lead consultant for the Barrhead Health and Care Centre in Scotland and was the Avanti director in charge of the development, with Kennedy FitzGerald Architects, of designs for the Grove Health and Wellbeing Centre in Belfast and Portadown Health Centre, both in Northern Ireland. These, alongside seven projects by other architects, are featured as case studies in the book. |
