00:01It's taken 15 million pounds and years to get off the ground.
00:06But at last, a long-awaited healthy living centre
00:09has opened in the heart of one of Medway's most deprived wards,
00:14bringing everything from a GP surgery to physio care under one roof.
00:20Often our patients tell us what we really need to have access to is what happens next.
00:25I've seen my doctor, I now need to see my physio.
00:28And this provides a one-stop area for all those needs to be made.
00:31Located on the first floor of the Pentagon Shopping Centre,
00:35the James Williams Healthy Living Centre is named for the council's late director of health,
00:41who died in 2024, the same year that construction here started.
00:47Those at the launch now hope the centre will continue his legacy
00:51of making public health more accessible.
00:55It's on a main bus route.
00:57It's easy for people to get to.
00:58It's local to the people that we need to serve.
01:01So I think accessible is important,
01:03but I think that it's so exciting to be able to offer a high-spec facility
01:08to the people of Medway when that's not always been what we've experienced.
01:12Chatham Central and Brompton, where the centre is located,
01:16has major issues with health inequalities.
01:19Smoking, adult obesity and hospital alcohol admissions are all above the average for England and wider Medway.
01:27Preventative services here could be the key to reducing worse outcomes for those living in the town centre later in
01:35life.
01:3540% of all falls that happen, happen here.
01:40So having a facility like this with all of the practitioners and all of the experts working together
01:44and get to the bottom of that, we can think about why that is
01:47and what each one of us as partners can do to change it and make it better.
01:51There is capacity here for further preventative services in the coming months and years.
01:56But with an ageing population with more complex needs than ever,
02:02there's no doubt this centre will be in high demand.
02:05Olly Lieder in Chatham
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