« Reply #14 on: June 20, 2008, 05:52:54 PM »
Hi all,
First I knew of a list of 8 GP surgeries was reading the front page of the Welwyn Hatfield Review. It is however true that GPs in Welwyn Hatfield are under threat because of the so called Polyclinics that the government wants to establish. These would involve large clinics which are more distant from the population. Kind of like the large A&E and acute services at fewer hospitals all over again for GPs.
However, I certainly don't have a list of 8 clinics set to close in Welwyn Hatfield and whilst my quotes appear accurately they were provided in response to a telephone call from the Welwyn Hatfield Review reporter about the Polyclinic concept and the threat that they pose. I don't know where the list of 8 GP surgeries comes from, but it isn't a list that I have.
Grant.
Here's our Party view on Polyclinics which are particularly endorse from a Welwyn Hatfield point of view, since we've already seen how they've wrecked our Hospital NHS locally:
Significant resources have been wasted on repeated NHS restructuring. There have been ten major reorganisations of the NHS since Labour came to power in 1997, each of which wastes money and prevents NHS staff fulfilling their primary role – providing treatment and care.
The Conservative Party have pledged that when we gain power there will be no more pointless reorganisations of the NHS, which are both costly and disruptive. We believe decisions affecting local services should not be taken by distant politicians or an unaccountable bureaucracy, but by frontline staff in our local NHS on behalf of their patients.
Conservatives are determined to maintain and strengthen the NHS, and have pledged to put the patients and professionals at the heart of the NHS, as we believe that they are best placed to make decisions about the treatment and care required. Profits should not be put before patients.
Under a future Conservative Government the NHS will have a greater patient focus, it will be properly resourced and it will be free at the point of delivery.
David Cameron has called for bottom-up reform of the NHS and promised to fight Labour’s plans to close GP surgeries. He has stressed the need for serious reform to turn the NHS into a more decentralised, more patient-centred, less bureaucratic system, and has criticised Labour for imposing polyclinics on local communities without public support and against the wishes of GPs themselves.
With 1,700 GP surgeries under threat from the polyclinic proposal, David Cameron has pledged to save the family doctor service from Brown’s NHS cuts. In fact, he has urged GPs to sign a petition – organised by the thinktank ‘2020health’ – to protect the family doctor service.
Unfortunately, Welwyn Hatfield has already suffered over the last few years when the Government reneged on their promise to build us a super hospital, and then took away the acute services at the QE2 as well. Now this is happening and people are understandably upset.
Please rest assured that the Conservative Party are working hard to create policy to tackle the problems that face modern Britain today.
Thank you again for getting in touch and please do not hesitate to do so again.
Grant.
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Topic: NHS polyclinics will damage patient care (Read 13310 times)