BMJ  2008;336:916-918 (26 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.39552.381053.DB

Feature

When is a polyclinic not a polyclinic?

¹ London SW16 6ND

To appease concerns over the future of primary care, will we see polyclinics rebranded as health centres? Rob Finch investigates

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Polyclinics will end traditional general practice in every area of the country, leading to factory-style care in supersized group practices, with no thought for continuity of patient care. That was the thinking that led GPs from Worcestershire to make a six hour round trip to 10 Downing Street to petition Gordon Brown against the policy last month.

Doctors believe that, in the senior echelons of the NHS, word has gone out that every primary care trust must have a polyclinic. Yet the Department of Health categorically denies a national policy of polyclinics. And even Lord Darzi himself told the House of Lords recently: "Those suggesting that I envisage the herding of GPs into polyclinics imposed from above have missed the whole tenor of my report, which is about ensuring that change is led from the bottom up by local clinicians."[1] His words were echoed by a. departmental spokeswoman, who told . . . [Full text of this article]

How the Hove polyclinic works

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This article has been cited by other articles:

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