Ilkeston doctors slam new health centre plans
Doctors in Ilkeston are urging patients to support them in their opposition to a new health centre, due to open next spring.
The super clinic was agreed after Ilkeston was highlighted by the government as an area where access to doctors was difficult and where more services were needed.
But GPs say the money should have been spent on expanding services and increasing the number of doctors and nurses in their surgeries, rather than building an independent health centre.
Dr Gail Walton, from the Littlewick practice described it as "wasteful."
She said: "We believe a clinic based in Ilkeston staffed by transient salareid doctors will provide neither the same continuity nor standard of care that we have locally grown to expect.
"The problem is not the quality of care but the quantity that is currently available, which is why some of our access statistics have been poor in recent audits."
Although a full list of services has not yet been finalised, the GP-led health centre will cater for up to 5,000 patients, provide a walk-in clinic - open 8am until 8pm seven days a week, and offer health promotion services, such as weight management.
It is part of a 250 million nationwide government initiative and will be similar to Stapleford Care Centre, which opened last year.
Dr Paul Weston Smith, senior partner at Littlewick, said there are not enough people in the area for it to serve 5,000 patients.
He said: "There's only about 1,000 houses going up in Ilkeston over the next couple of years and in this country we have 1,750 patients per doctor, so that would amount to only needing one or two additional doctors. There's going to be too many of us."
Dr Weston Smith said he is concerned more doctors would mean redundancies in local practices, and doctors not being replaced when they retire. He said it will have a "de-stabilising effect."
Dr Arvind Mistry at Gladstone House surgery said it will be people who work full time and don't see their doctor very often that will use the health centre.
He said: "The centres tend to cream off the easy run-of-the-mill patients, and patients that may need extra care, such as those with long term heart problems or illnesses such as diabetes or asthma, are left with the NHS. The NHS then appears to be costly and looks like it's not performing so well.
"I can see how it improves patient care for some people, but it's the implications it has for the NHS and the quality of care provided that people don't see."
Doctors from all practices in Ilkeston put a joint bid in to run the super clinic themselves so they could add value and expertise to it. But it was turned down, and the job was awarded to IBH Ltd.
Dr Walton said: "We did this to protect and improve the present system where local services are provided by permanent local GPs who live in, have an allegiance to the area and who patients get to know well over the years - unlike salaried doctors who may wish to gain experience for a few years before moving on."
A spokesperson for Derbyshire County Primary Care Trust said the cost of providing GP services to the people of Ilkeston ranges from 92 to 132 per patient per year across seven practices. The cost per patient at the new GP-led health centre is estimated to be 121 per patient.
The spokesperson added: "Not only will the new centre mean extra health services for patients in Ilkeston, but will also offer greater choice and better access.
"The PCT is fully committed to investing in existing GP services in Ilkeston, alongside any new investment in the GP-led health centre.
This includes an annual commitment from the PCT of 371,000 to redevelop the Littlewick Medical Centre on Nottingham Road."
Doctors are now asking the people of Ilkeston to support them by writing to the chief executive of Derbyshire County Primary Care Trust and Erewash MP Liz Blackman asking for justification of the decision and a review of how money is spent within general practice health care.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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