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'Calm debate' needed on NHS polyclinics

17/04/2008

A "calm and balanced" debate is needed on proposals to establish polyclinics for the health service, the NHS Confederation claims today.

Polyclinics are one of the suggestions made by the health minister and surgeon Lord Ara Darzi, who is leading a review of the NHS.

They would carry out GPs' services as well as some minor surgery and would be equipped with X-ray and ultrasound machines.

Some healthcare professionals have reacted with concern to the proposals, saying GPs would be "herded" into polyclinics without evidence to show the centres would be successful.

In its report today, the NHS Confederation, which represents more than 95 per cent of the organisations that make up the NHS, says many of the potential benefits of polyclinics have not been fully considered due to misconceptions and concerns surrounding them.

The confederation says adopting the new model of care could improve the quality of patient care and experience.

But it says that polyclinics would not be appropriate in every area and warns that there should be no imposed national blueprint for how the clinics should work.

The NHS Confederation advises that local communities and government must be involved from the earliest stages of planning and new ways of working should be introduced before moving to a new building where possible, to change practice and not just location.

NHS Confederation policy director Nigel Edwards said the organisation has been "genuinely surprised" to see the level of controversy over polyclinics as they are "based on long-term trends of what works best in healthcare".

"What we need now is a calm and balanced debate about how to bring out the best in our primary care services," he added.

"It is crucial that politicians and health professionals fully engage with the benefits that polyclinics can bring. Knee-jerk reactions focussing on possible problems based on pre-existing agendas rather than potential solutions could seriously jeopardise progress for patients."

Commenting on the report, Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the British Medical Association's GPs committee, said: "While there may be a case for establishing a polyclinic in some very specific circumstances where local patients and clinicians agree on a proven need in their area, we are against the headlong rush into polyclinics or health centres that is a current feature of primary care trust [PCT] activity all over the country.

"Whether called polyclinics as in London, or 'health centres', these developments have the potential to undermine long-established routes for delivering quality patient care."

He added that PCTs should be encouraged to invest in their local GP practices rather than be forced to create new services.