An interesting article in the Independent on Sunday (20.4.08) about the current controversy over Government plans to create “Super clinics” which would accommodate up to 25 GPs and other services.
Whilst nothing on this scale is currently proposed in Coventry, many doctors think that similar developments could have an impact on the way that primary care is delivered, to the detriment of many patients.
Ministers argue that the traditional family doctor of the 1940s, epitomised by the 1960s TV series Dr Finlay’s Casebook, does not suit the modern needs of the NHS. Super-surgeries will include services currently only offered in hospitals such as minor surgery, diabetes screening and sexual health clinics, as well as access to traditional GPs and practice nurses.
But critics fear polyclinics will attract large private companies who can outbid local GPs. Union leaders accuse the government of privatisation by stealth and are planning to fight the moves.
GPs fear for their relationship with patients, claiming polyclinics will employ more salaried doctors who are unlikely to stay and work in one place for as long as partners in a local practice, many of whom spend a lifetime attached to one surgery. And while younger, “healthier” people are most concerned about easier access to doctors, patients with long-term conditions such as diabetes, asthma and depression, place greater value on seeing a doctor they know.
Dr Anthony Halperin, chairman of the Patients Association, warned last week: “We are concerned the personal contact with a GP will be lost within a poly-clinic because another layer of treatment is being introduced.”
Chronically ill patients and the elderly, who are the biggest users of GP services, would prefer to wait a day and see a doctor who knows their history, argue patient groups. And older and disabled people could be unwittingly excluded from the new clinics because they are too far away and difficult to get to.