So the long-awaited town centre health centre is set to open tomorrow, we learn today. I hope it will have the impact on improving the health of people living and working close to town it was designed to.
Potential patients for this centre form part of a highly-mobile and diverse population with, studies have shown, limited access to healthcare, so a walk-in health centre such as this is much needed.
I'm glad to say health inequality has risen up the agenda locally with publication of public health profiles showing that Reading continues to be a very unequal place when it comes to health.
In my view it's a scandal that unlike other areas there is still no full time director of public health attached to the local authority.
Instead we have a 'Healthier Reading Partnership' made up of RBC members and officials, health officals and others which attempts to draw all the strands together but (having sat in on meetings) without spending power it can feel like a glorified talking shop.
Partly as a result of this responsibility for improving public health is shared across many local bodies with little direct accountability for residents - beyond LINKs and the health scrutiny panel which I chair.
Reading is also part of a big PCT area - one of the largest in the country - and as a result it struggles to get the financial resources it needs to tackle many health problems and is forced to compete for limited resources alongside neighbours Slough and Newbury.
Back in April I highlighted the gap that exists between communities in Reading in terms of health and the fact that long promised new health centres in Whitley and Battle have still not been delivered by the PCT.
Health officials revealed at a scrutiny meeting I chaired in March that both projects have suffered delays as a result of the recession.
This is unfortuanate,especially, as in the case of Battle the new superstore has been built but the associated 'public benefits' the community were promised have not materialised.
I'm sure Cllr Tony Jones will have a view on this, having actively campaigned for a health centre in Battle for many years.
I've written to Bev Searle at the PCT to see what's happened to these two projects and to ask how much longer communities in these areas will have to wait for better healthcare and better health.
UPDATE:
Cllr Tony Jones has responded on his Blog. Tony has suggested an update on the delayed Battle health & well-being centre project goes on the next HHCC Scrutiny Panel agenda in the autumn which I'm happy to see happen.
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