DOCTORS, NHS staff and politicians are campaigning to save Harrow polyclinics from cuts.
When former Prime Minister Tony Blair visited Alexandra Avenue Health and Social Care Centre in April last year patients and employees would scarcely have believed just nine months later they would be fighting for its future.
The practice was launched in a hail of publicity in June, 2009, with Lord Darzi, the mastermind of Labour's landmark super clinics, labelling it “amazing”.
But staff now believe the 8am to 8pm walk-in service could be axed as NHS Harrow, which runs it, battles to claw back a £32m deficit, on top of £12m already slashed.
They held a protest outside the practice, in Alexandra Avenue, Rayners Lane, at 11am today.
Gareth Thomas, MP for Harrow West, helped campaign for the Alexandra Avenue clinic originally and said: “It's incredibly frustrating. These facilities were big investments in the people of Harrow.
“It's just devastating given how much effort's gone in. These were trail blazers across London under Ara Darzi's reforms to the health service across London. It's putting the health service back 10 years.”
He added: “This is how public services should be – flexible, accessible and high quality. If this closes services will be a lot less accessible.”
NHS Harrow, formerly Harrow PCT, admitted in January its “financial challenges in Harrow are probably bigger than any other PCT in London”.
In December chief executive Mark Easton said: “There's a question mark over whether we can afford three [polyclinics] in the borough but we haven't got any firm proposals yet.”
The other two centres are at the Pinn Medical Centre, in Pinner, and at Northwick Park Hospital.
Staff at Alexandra Avenue say they have treated 52,000 patients through the walk-in service since it opened in April 2009 and was one of only six clinics in London to achieve 100 per cent in the last government assessment.
Treating patients there is said to be a third cheaper than at a hospital A&E.
Dr David Lloyd, the clinic's most senior GP, said: “The big difference between a walk-in service run by a hospital or a stand alone walk-in service is the experienced GPs and primary care nurses.
“For anything that is treatable in the community from minor cuts and bruises to long term conditions we are here to help.”
Phil Buttery, the practice business manager, said: “We are seeing a large number of patients from the under privileged communities of South Harrow. Many of them are not registered with GPs anywhere else.
“We feel we are helping to overcome health inequalities.”
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