'Martini' style healthcare warning
Updated on 20 February 2008
The Government's plans to introduce polyclinics could lead to a "Martini" style of healthcare - any time, anywhere, any doctor, an expert said.
The move has come under fire over fears it will not provide continuity of care for patients.
The Government is known to want to create some "supersurgeries" or polyclinics which are run by several doctors and offer some specialist services.
But the chairman of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) said the doctor-patient relationship and continuity of healthcare could be sacrificed to make way for a "Martini" style system.
Professor Steve Field, in a speech to the NHS Confederation, said the RCGP was not totally opposed to the concept of polyclinics, which could work well in some areas of the country.
The RCGP already wants several GP practices to work together to create "federations" to deliver care in some areas.
These federations would see GPs stay in their own practices so people could access services without having to go on longer journeys to polyclinics.
But practices would work together more to pool resources and offer more services at a local level, such as blood tests and scans.
Prof Field said: "Some of our inner city areas might benefit from a supersurgery or polyclinic but older people and patients who suffer from several conditions at once - those who rely on their local practice - do not want to see a different person for every appointment or keep having to repeat their medical history and circumstances every time they see a different health professional.
"Unfortunately, the polyclinic or super surgery idea as it stands plays down the importance of general practice in favour of Martini healthcare, which is fine for people who only need to see a doctor occasionally and are otherwise healthy and able-bodied, but will be a very different story for more vulnerable patients who need their GP."
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