The polyclinic idea isn’t entirely new, although the name is. The new health centre we’re developing in White City (part of the redevelopment of the old Janet Adegoke leisure centre site) is very similar to the polyclinic idea suggested in Prof Darzi’s report. We’d started work on the White City centre some time before Prof Darzi’s report was published.On the whole the PCT believes such centres are a good idea. Having more doctors working together makes it easier for a centre to rota staff to offer longer weekday hours and weekend opening. It also means there is a broader range of skills available to patients, as many GPs have particular interests in certain conditions. This means such centres may well be able to offer minor surgery or other treatments people would otherwise have to be referred to hospital for. They’d also have bigger budgets and more patients which could make it economically possible to have x-ray, ultrasound or other traditionally hospital based services.Centres like this would also have the space to run out-patient clinics, so rather than patients being referred to hospital the consultants could come out of the hospital to see people at a local centre (although obviously how close you live to the hospital compared to the health centre would determine if that’s more convenient to an individual patient – and in a small borough like ours with several major hospital in the borough or nearby the “closer to home” benefit is less of an issue than in rural areas).All that said, we are very aware from our conversations with local residents during the Healthcare for London consultation that a fundamental concern is that bigger centres mean less personal care. We recognise the importance many people place on being able to see the same GP each visit – particularly important to people with long-term conditions. We believe it would be possible to continue to offer that service from a polyclinic style centre, and at the same time offer faster access for patients who want to see a doctor quickly and don’t mind who it is.It’s also important to note that the proposals in Healthcare for London offer several different ‘models’ for polyclinics – one model is the bigger single-site polyclinic; another involves existing GP practices working more closely together to offer a wider range of services to patients. Even if the consultation results support the idea of polyclinics it doesn’t mean a one-size-fits-all blueprint of what a polyclinic should be will be imposed across London. Individual PCTs would still be able to work with their local residents and GPs to develop models which suit local needs.Regarding the potential for polyclinics to be run by private companies - What is most important to the PCT is that the money we invest on behalf of local people brings the maximum benefit in terms of access to health services, improving health and reducing local health inequalities. If private companies bid for new services that are put out to tender we will review them alongside any bids from NHS providers and award the contract to the bidder which we believe will offer the best service to local people.
Tom Stevenson ● 6215d