The Daily Echo 21 February 2008

Written by Sandra Gidley MP on Thu 21st Feb 2008

GPs have been much in the news lately. They are angry because the Government is trying to change the new contract which was agreed three years ago. The Government want doctors' surgeries to open for more hours and the GPs feel they should be paid for doing this. I make no comment on the way negotiations have been handled on either side but what interests me is that I have received a spate of letters from patients who are sympathetic to their GPs and are concerned that GP morale is not good.

The relationship between a GP and a patient is a special one as the GP is the health professional who knows the most about you and frequently this relationship is one that endures for years and there is a special bond of trust.

But, the times they are a-changing and patients generally are less respectful of the medical profession and are less likely to accept everything suggested by a doctor at face value. Despite this the GP- patient relationship endures but there is a mood of change in the air and it is becoming less clear whether the Government has plans for the GP - patient relationship to endure.

At the weekend Lord Darzi announced that a network of polyclinics would be introduced throughout the country. I was somewhat taken aback by this announcement because I met Lord Darzi recently and he told me that there would be no "top down" direction and that local areas would be able to decide upon what would suit them best. It also seems a little odd to be making an announcement about polyclinics before his wholescale review of the NHS has been completed.

So, what is a polyclinic? Broadly speaking it refers to a clinic where a large number of doctors operate under one roof but the detail is hazy. In Germany the clinics offer all that a hospital does but without the beds. However, some in the UK see the model as more of a super surgery - with groups of GPs combining together and providing extra services to what is supplied currently - such as minor surgery for example.

It is clear that Lord Darzi has no clear idea of the detail. I know, because he came before us on the Health Select Committee and he could not answer any questions about the detail.

There is no evidence that polyclinics will make services more accessible for people but there is a real concern that the current GP arrangement, which generally works well, is under threat. Our Post Office network has been destroyed. We must not let the same happen to our health service.

Published with kind permission of The Daily Echo