We believe in local services for local people. Because the Polyclinics are privately owned, many of the
smaller and less economically viable surgeries will close. Many of us will have to travel further to see our
GP, affecting all age groups and abilities. We are happy with our small and local health centres, the public are
not calling for larger superclinics. Continuity of care will be much less likely in a clinic of 50 different GP's. The
Government are selling this policy on the basis of extended opening times, but we believe that this can be achieved without
creating polyclinics and putting our local surgery at risk.
This is not some distant proposal yet to go through the House of Commons. These new health centres are being
rolled out across London as you read this. The Department of Health sent a letter in December demanding that the policy of
polyclinics be implemented immediately. A press release by the Labour Party on April 15th confirmed that they would be built
"in every town and city".
There will have been no public consent or debate about this huge transformation of our GP surgeries.
The only way to stop the handover of our surgeries to large corporations and to prevent closures
of smaller practices and local pharmacies (as we have seen with our local maternity units) is to join together to make our
voices heard.
Please sign our petition and if you would like to be an active part of our campaign please email us at:
