30,000 back fight against businesses (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

30,000 back fight against businesses

7:03pm Tuesday 10th June 2008 in Local By Claire Lomax

More than 30,000 patients have signed a petition to oppose big business running general practice.

Tomorrow, GP leaders will deliver the petition to the Prime Minister, calling on the Government to halt plans which encourage private firms to take over NHS general practices.

The petition is part of a national campaign by the BMA, the doctors' union, to highlight what they say is the negative impact the Government's plans will have on the NHS.

Across the country, 150 new GP-run health centres, known as polyclinics, are being created on the recommendation of health minister Lord Darzi. They are open from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week, In Bradford the new walk-in centre will be at Hillside Bridge Healthcare Centre in Barkerend. Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust is advertising for a new provider of the service, but GP leaders believe the policy could destabilise existing services, depersonalise patient care and possibly close practices.

The petition, calling on the Government to halt its plans, was organised by the Bradford and Airedale branch of the Local Medical Committee, an organisation which represents GPs locally.

Dr Andy Withers, chairman of the committee and a GP at The Grange Medical Practice in Allerton, said: "A great strength of existing practices is they are local. The practice is run by the GP partners who are also the people who have day to day contact with their patients."

A spokesman for Bradford and Airedale Teaching PCT said: "We are not developing a polyclinic - this is a new GP practice and walk-in centre which is a much-needed additional NHS service in Barkerend, one of the most stretched areas in the district in terms of GP capacity, with demand for services outstripping supply.

"Far from replacing any services, the new development actually builds on existing services at Hillside Bridge Healthcare Centre to create an 8am to 8pm, all-year-round GP practice and walk-in centre which patients will be able to access without an appointment.

"This is about providing services for people where they are needed.

"No GP surgery is threatened by these changes. In fact the tPCT is working closely with doctors and other healthcare professionals to make sure the new facilities complement services already in the area.

"We are also inviting local practices to bid to provide the new GP service - so the opportunity is open to everyone, certainly not just big businesses.

"Up to 4,000 extra patients will be able to register at Hillside Bridge."