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8:02am Thursday 26th June 2008

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Push for polyclinics will allow 'best of both worlds'

GP practices will not be culled in the borough of Barnet, health chiefs reassured residents this week.

The Government is encouraging primary care trusts (PCTs) across London to introduce polyclinics to bring a range of services, such as pharmacies, GPs surgeries and dentists, under one roof.

In Finchley, 1,000 residents concerned about the loss of community-based GP services signed a petition in December objecting to any surgery closures.

But this week Barnet PCT chief executive Charles Hollwey said no GPs will be forced to move.

"We need to reassure people we will definitely not be forcing GP practices to close," he said. "We have some very good community care and exceptional GP practices in Barnet that we don't want to lose."

The Government believes grouping GPs on one site in a polyclinic will allow evening and weekend access to their services in better quality facilities.

However, the Government proposals allow for a range of options, including one that matches a hub-and-spoke' model that Barnet PCT has been working towards since 2002.

This will involve primary care centres offering a similar range of services to polyclinics, but supported by GPs who remain in their community-based practices.

Mr Hollwey said: "What we're trying to do is get the best of both worlds. We want to ensure services remain locally so if you're a mother with young children you can push your pram around the corner to see the doctor.

"But at the same time have up-do-date healthcare which people can access locally rather than in an acute hospital four or five miles away."

This will include diagnostic services and outpatient appointments that would normally be delivered at acute hospitals, like Barnet Hospital, in Wellhouse Lane.

Edgware Community Hospital and Finchley Memorial Hospital are already serving as primary care centres and at least three more are likely to be built across the borough over the coming decade, some alongside major regeneration projects.

They may also involve the private sector, which has also been a source of contention.

Mr Hollwey said: "At the moment the service we're moving towards with primary care centres has been largely run by the NHS or GPs. But I think we would always want to test that we were getting best value for money.

"I would expect the majority of services will be provided by GPs and the NHS.

"If we were opening a new facility they would have to prove that they could do it as well as the private sector. But any decision will involve the public."