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'Supersurgeries' to ease A&E wait
Anna Davis17 Dec 2008
TWO London hospitals will set up "super GP surgeries" to ease pressure on their A&E departments.
Thirty doctors will be employed in hospital-based practices to deal with non-emergency patients who would otherwise be treated in casualty. Patients will also be able to register with the GPs and book appointments in the normal way.
The move is expected to cut waits in A&E, but critics fear it will force many people to travel further to see a GP for a routine appointment. Health bosses admitted the surgeries could expand to become "polyclinics" in the future, incorporating additional services.
It comes after the Evening Standard reported that London casualty departments are having to turn ambulances away because of a sharp rise in the number of people seeking help.
The surgeries will be set up in the emergency departments at Charing Cross and Hammersmith hospitals and are due to open in April. The doctors will also provide out-of-hours services for patients registered at all GP practices in Hammersmith and Fulham.Anyone who turns up at A&E who doesn't need emergency treatment will be sent to the GP surgery. Experts say this will cut the wait for emergency patients from four hours to one.
Sarah Whiting, chief executive of NHS Hammersmith and Fulham, said: "We're creating this new service in response to concerns local people have raised about lack of flexibility in primary care, long waits in A&E, and difficulty knowing what services are available or who to call.
"This will mean more doctors and nurses in the borough and more choice and convenience for patients. Having GPs on hand at the emergency departments will be a real benefit. This new service will mean the majority of people are seen within one hour."
The surgeries will bring an extra 30 GPs to Hammersmith and Fulham, which has a shortage.
Geoff Martin, of London Health Emergency, said: "In principle I can see the logic in this, but there is a danger we will end up with people turning up at hospital because they think it's the quickest way to see a GP. And there is a danger it might lead to a speeding up of the closures of local GP surgeries and the centralisation of services."
A spokeswoman for the primary care trust denied the surgeries will force people to travel further. She said: "Locally our hospitals, particularly Charing Cross, are very accessible so it makes sense to put new surgeries in convenient locations where people are already going and where they can support A&E teams."
She claimed there was no risk that pre-booked doctor's appointments would be cancelled if there are too many urgent cases in through A&E.
Reader views (1)
Who will be making the diagnosis a senior clinician or a nurse of whether a patient should remain in the Major A&E department or be sent to the area for G.P treatment?
Will the proposed super surgeries mainly be maned by nurses?
And won't it mean that these super GP surgeries at hospital sites will be competing for the use of diagnostic equipment with the Major A&E department and the rest of the hospital requirements leading to no reduction in waiting times?
Who will run these G.P hospital centres, private companies?
There is no doubt it will be further for people to go , when feeling ill , or suffering from an accident.
- Ivy Beard, Cheshunt Hertfordshire, 18/12/2008 12:45
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