A Radical Practice in Liverpool: The Rise, Fall and Rise of The Princes Park Health Centre by Katy Gardner


A Radical Practice in Liverpool: The Rise, Fall and Rise of The Princes Park Health Centre
Title : A Radical Practice in Liverpool: The Rise, Fall and Rise of The Princes Park Health Centre
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 1910580597
ISBN-10 : 9781910580592
Language : English
Format Type : Kindle Edition
Number of Pages : -
Publication : Published May 19, 2021

"At its best Princes Park Health Centre was Nye Bevan’s dream health care, free for all at their point of need, from the cradle to the grave." (Chas Clegg, district nurse). Princes Park Health Centre, in Liverpool 8, was founded by Dr Cyril Taylor, a visionary GP and Labour councillor. Cyril’s approach to the role of GP was strongly influenced by his Communist beliefs, and his strong sense of social justice. Princes Park Health Centre pioneered numerous innovations in holistic primary care, women’s health and health promotion. Writing on the Wall are very proud to announce the publication of A Radical Practice in Liverpool, written by Katy Gardner and Susanna Graham-Jones, both GPs who worked at the practice, where a dedicated multidisciplinary primary health care team provided exceptional care to patients. The team worked with local organisations more broadly to make Liverpool 8 a healthier place and to tackle poverty and racism. ‘Health Through Arts’ events involved patients and local artists; research projects on homelessness, ethnicity and health, and heart disease started here, in the inner city. The practice struggled bravely against Thatcherism, maintaining its focus on social justice throughout the 1980s and 1990s despite the chronic lack of funding for the NHS. However, the heavy workload took its toll on those who worked there. The principled decision by the GPs to become a salaried practice in 1998 was followed by gruelling times, with loss of autonomy and chaotic NHS fragmentation as privatisation encroached. The later sections of the book chart the struggle and rebirth of Princes Park Health Centre, acknowledging the vital role played by patients and the local community. A Radical Practice draws on the vivid memories of patients and community activists as well as health workers. It is set in the political context of the time and reflects the turbulent history of the National Health Service over the last 40 years.

A Radical Practice in Liverpool: The Rise, Fall and Rise of The Princes Park Health Centre Reviews

  • David Ebsworth

    One of my surprise favourite reads of the year. And yes, I gave it five stars, normally reserved for my very favourite writers but here because - well, I just loved it!
    In the early 1980s I was a union organiser in Liverpool. But that wasn't just about representing members in their workplaces. The work often also involved us in members' problems within their communities. This took me onto the 1981 People's March for Jobs, into the union's support for families caught up in the 1981 Toxteth riots, or onto campaigns in conjunction with the Voluntary (Charities) Sector, and a dozen other struggles. And it seemed that, wherever I went, there too was Dr. Cyril Taylor or his sidekick, Dr. Katy Gardner - from the Princes Park Health Centre in Liverpool 8. So this book is almost like a reunion with old comrades and acquaintances. Sheila Abdullah, Geraldine and Gerry Poole, Gerry Kinsella and many, many more.
    In 1989, I took part in an International Construction Brigade, building houses in flood-ravaged Corinto, Nicaragua - and Katy Gardner joined us as the Brigade's doctor.
    But the book is also a timely reminder about how the NHS in general, and General Practices in particular, have developed over their relatively short history. The NHS is, after all, not much older that myself and it's easy to forget how often it's been under attack - usually by the Tories. But, much more than a reminder of old friends, the book is simply a great read. It has an easy style. And yes, in its way it's a page-turner. There's technical detail, naturally, though you can always speed-read through those bits and, in any case, it cleverly never gets in the way of the narrative.
    Maybe a TV dramatisation series in here somewhere, as well. Cyril Taylor and Katy Gardner could so easily become as popular as characters in Doc Martin or Call the Midwife, and there are at least as many plot twists involving their patients.