Doctors' leaders slam health centres plan

Doctors' leaders criticised suggestions on Saturday that many GP surgeries across England could be replaced by a network of large health centres.

Health Minister Lord Darzi told the BBC that the days were over for single GPs working alone in a small practice.

He said the future of patient care was in large local health centres or "polyclinics", grouping together GPs, nurses and specialists.

But the British Medical Association (BMA) said the plans would duplicate care and be more expensive.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown brought leading surgeon Darzi into the government last year and gave him the task of producing a blueprint for the future of the National Health Service.

Darzi has already proposed a network of 150 polyclinics for London and will deliver his NHS plan in the summer, coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the state-funded service.

The BBC said Darzi wanted to extend the network across the country.

"I'm recommending polyclinics because there is plenty of evidence either here in this country or outside this country, that integrated care around the needs of the patient ... is the way that healthcare should be delivered in future," Darzi told BBC television.

"I have no doubt in the future we are going to see a critical mass of general practitioners working together, rather than what we used to see in the past, which were practices with a single-handed clinician."

Richard Vautrey of the British Medical Association told BBC radio the polyclinic plans would undermine the generalist role of the family doctor.

The centres would have a number of specialists whom patients would see directly for areas such as children's care or women's health.

"Specialists tend to investigate people a lot more. They haven't got the broad picture that GPs have," said Vautrey.

"What you need when patients come with undifferentiated symptoms is somebody who can look at the whole picture, not just focus in on a very small area of a person's body."

Patients Association Chairman Anthony Halperin told BBC television there had been no consultation over the plans.

"We are the largest patient organisation in the country. We have not once been approached about what we think the patients that we represent actually want."

The Department of Health said any changes to the provision of patient care would be decided locally.

"This is not the end of small GP surgeries, many of which provide an excellent service to patients across the country," said a department spokeswoman.

"It is for local people and clinicians to decide what they want in their community - what works in one area clearly might not be suitable for another."