Polyclinics will make it harder to see family GPs, claim doctors

Patients will lose access to their neighbourhood GP under plans to overhaul the NHS in London, doctors' leaders claim.

They attacked proposals to create a network of large "polyclinics" across the city and said people would be forced to travel further for care.

In their official response to the biggest shake-up of NHS services, GP leaders warned that the traditional family practice could disappear and "vulnerable patients" be left without a local doctor.

Dr Stewart Drage, head of the Londonwide Local Medical Committees, said: "People are used to being able to see a GP on their doorstep. There is a real risk this is going to disappear."

The LMC report says plans to create up to 150 polyclinics - serving 50,000 people each and containing up to 25 GPs - could leave patients facing a " bewildering array" of practices within each centre. It also says there is not enough evidence to show that the supersurgeries would help disadvantaged groups.

Under a blueprint for London NHS bosses want to create supersurgeries offering GP appointments, X-rays, dentistry and other diagnostic tests. They also want to create centres specialising in care of the most seriously injured, paediatrics and stroke care.

The plans - called Healthcare for London - have been out to public consultation for months but only 3,000 people are expected to have responded by Friday's deadline.

No decisions about changes to specific hospitals and GP surgeries will be made until summer.

Although doctors had major concerns about polyclinics they backed the need for change to London's NHS. They also said plans to centralise stroke and trauma care were a good idea and supported proposals to increase the number of midwife-led maternity units.

Health bosses say that GPs will not be forced to join supersurgeries. A spokesman for the consultation said: "There is no suggestion that polyclinics will change patients' relationships with their GP."