Tories: 'only we can save your doctors'

In this hyper-exaggerated modern age, services and functions invariably have to get bigger, brighter and slicker. Hence why customers are deserting corner shops in favour of chain supermarkets, multi-level nightclubs generally attract more people on a Saturday night than the Dog And Duck, and Heathrow Terminal 5 turned out to be the most popular, lauded and highly efficient airport expansion ever. In a parallel universe.

Nothing is safe from this syndrome. Including - it would seem - your local GP. Plans are afoot to create large-scale 'polyclinics', super-surgeries that can house up to 25 doctors and have on-site operating theatres. Ignoring the obvious dichotomy - Westmonster is sure those things used to be called 'hospitals' - the Tories have announced just how bloody annoyed they are with the whole scheme.

The Conservatives have worked out that introducing these mega-surgery-things would result in the closure of 1,700 existing GP practices. While some ministers claim the new idea to be the 'future of healthcare', others - notably those under the leadership of Mr Cameron - reckon that it could spell the end for 'traditional doctor-patient relationships.'

There's no explanation as to what a 'traditional doctor-patient relationship' actually is, but never mind. We'll let that one slip.

D-Cam is speaking to the Kings Fund tomorrow, and will explain in his speech that the good old-fashioned local GP is at risk, and that only he and his merry Tory band can swoop in and save them all. However, Health Secretary Alan Johnson perceives the whole thing as ill-informed attention-grabbing:

"David Cameron is once again misleading the public on the government's plans, but in the process, he has exposed the Tories as the party who want to cut extra NHS investment and stop expanding patient choice. We are opening 150 new GP-run health centres, open from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week. And because this programme is all paid for with new money, none of it will lead to a reduction in traditional GP services."

We'll have more on Cameron's speech as it happens. Providing it's actually interesting.

Written by C J Davies on 20 Apr 2008 9:59 PM. Permalink