England to have more walk-in clinics

The health secretary, Frank Dobson, at the Labour party conference, announces 17 new walk-in clinics for England

Seventeen new walk-in health clinics are to be set up in England, bringing the total to 36, the UK health secretary, Frank Dobson, told the Labour party conference.

The centres will offer free consultations, minor treatment, and health information from 7 00 am to 10 00 pm, including weekends. The clinics, along with the 24 hour NHS Direct telephone advice service, which covers 40% of England, are part of the government's 10 year programme to modernise the NHS and are a response to patients' complaints of having to wait several days to see a GP.

Other parts of the government's modernisation programme were the upgrading of 1000 GP premises, the modernisation of many accident and emergency departments, and the NHS's big hospital building programme--37 hospitals were in the pipeline and 18 had already been built.

Mr Dobson also announced the first national standards framework for mental health services (see below). There would eventually be similar frameworks for heart disease, the care of older people, and diabetes.

Two days after the prime minister, Mr Tony Blair, took the BMA to task for wanting the government's NHS reforms to slow down, Mr Dobson said that he rejected conservatism about the NHS - "both the conservatism of those who want to scrap it, and the conservatism of those who want to fossilise it."

In response, the chairman of the BMA's council, Dr Ian Bogle, maintained that "doctors, too, want to see a modernised NHS." But doctors needed to be involved in planning, developing, and implementing the government's strategies.

The chairman of the General Practitioners Committee, Dr John Chisholm, called for "evidence based change." He was worried that walk-in centres could destabilise existing primary care and open the floodgates of demand when the money was available to meet it.

The prime minister promised the conference that if the Labour party was returned to power there would be "booked appointments" for everyone. The booking system would allow patients to book hospital consultant appointments or admission dates for operations that were convenient to them. This will start next year with booked appointments for patients with cancer and cataracts. And within the next two years people would be able to see an NHS dentist by phoning NHS Direct.

Linda Beecham, BMJ


studentBMJ 1999;07:394-436 November ISSN 0966-6494