The potential role of polyclinics

A few years ago I wrote a pamphlet setting out the case for the introduction of a network of polyclinics in the UK. I argued that if the Government was serious about shifting more care out hospitals and into the community, then the polyclinic model provided the perfect vehicle for it to do so. Polyclinics - or ‘super-surgeries’ as some people have called them - would also allow GPs and specialists to work alongside one another in the same building. This would provide patients with quicker, more integrated care, I suggested, and help to break down the barrier between the primary and secondary care sectors that has always dogged the NHS. A wider range of diagnostic and clinical services would also be able to be delivered in the community as a result of polyclinics.

Since I wrote my pamphlet, polyclinics have become an established part of the healthcare landscape in a number of areas. Centres in Belfast and Sunderland have been set up, and plans for the adoption of a system of polyclinics across London, each one serving a population of 50,000 have been put forward. And in Liverpool a proposal has been drawn up for a network of local neighbourhood health centres and polyclinics across the city, with each GP no more than 15 minutes walk away from their patients. The crucial thing about each of these models is that they are designed to reflect local circumstances: there is no one size fits all solution being imposed from the centre.

It may be that we will see a polyclinic of some description in this part of North Kent in the future: Ebbsfleet has been cited as one possible location. Whatever happens though local patients and health professionals will be at the heart of the decision making process. And it will be model that ensures that the best aspects of general practice that we have now, such as the relationship between a patient and a named GP, are preserved and built upon.