A Shropshire GP today called for the immediate closure of walk-in medical centres branding them a “scandalous waste” of taxpayers’ money.
Dr Paul Spencer claimed that they were mostly dealing with the “worried well” and cited a recent case seen at the Malling Health clinic in Telford town centre as proof that his “worst fears” about such facilities had come true.
The clinic, run by a private company for the borough’s primary care trust, had seen a boy who had been to McDonald’s and had smeared some tomato sauce on his face.
According to notes, he “immediately developed a red area on both cheeks/chin”.
An examination show he had a “reddened/raised” area to both cheeks but was happy and smiling.
Dr Spencer, of Dawley Medical Practice, said: “”I would ask you to consider this as proof, if proof were needed, that these walk-in centres are a scandalous waste of taxpayers’ money.
“I wouldn’t mind if patients were paying for this service provided by a private company at my expense, but PCTs across the country are paying millions to duplicate a service already provided by the patient’s own GP.
“Goodness knows we already see enough of the ‘worried well’ but to set up a service for these patients at a time when cancer patients cannot get the latest drugs is indefensible.”
The health centre was opened in the summer, along with another at the Princess Royal Hospital.
A similar centre, also run by Malling Health, has been opened by Shropshire County Primary Care Trust in Shrewsbury.
The centres are open seven days a week, from 8am to 8pm.
Dr Spencer and colleagues at Dawley have been long-time critics of the centres and other Shropshire GPs have also voiced concerns.
Dr Spencer said the growing Dawley practice, which serves almost 11,000 patients, needed an additional doctor but funding was not available.
A spokesman for NHS Telford and Wrekin said: “Since their openings in August, people have been making excellent use of both centres. As with all local health provision commissioned by NHS Telford and Wrekin, we will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the service provided.”
By Health Correspondent Dave Morris
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29 Comments
These places to have the smell of some advertising execs pitch to extract money out of the NHS rather than a well thought out practical idea that comes from people who know what they’re on about.
Don’t close them, just replace them with a kiosk and an advisor who can go through a script to give basic advice on whether your a waster with a cough or a walking wounded.. Arm them with phone numbers so they can help sort you a time at a clinic should (real) need be – or even a list of where medicines are available and when.. Maybe thats too simple for advertising execs to extract many thousands off NHS budget. Perhaps the brief was the future of the NHS.. this way there might be one.
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our doctors (aqueduct) told us to go to the one in town centre the other week as our little girl was porly and they didnt have any space as usual and the doctor at the town centre one was alot more helpfull explaned everything alot better than our normal doctors, sounds to me like the doctors above just dont want to loose buisness even thoguh you can only seam to get a appointment if you book in 6months in advance sorry but ive never been able to see the future as to when i will be ill
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Surely these are the type of patients who turn up to all GP practices but we don’t get to hear about them. Sounds to me as though the GP concerned is worried about the competition ! These centres were set up across the country by this government due to concerns in patients being able to access a GP.
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Where do you think the “worried well” should end up Dr Spencer – probably at your pratice?
Better to be “worried well” after walking in straight away than “worried sick” waiting for a GP appointment!
This nothing more than a rant.
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Took my child to the one at the PRH. Seen pretty much straight away, problem diagnosed, child barely late to school.
Far better than having to do battle with the receptionists at the main medical centre where you have to dial and re-dial before being told that there’s no appointments left and to call back tomorrow!
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Presumably, the parents of this child have been fined for wasting doctors time. Anyway, this can easily be resolved by having a charge for this kind of centre, £10 a visit should sort out the timewasters.
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Of course you are going to get wasters, there are plenty of them sitting in my doctors surgery everyday and that is why I cannot get an appointment half the time because some hypercondriac is in my place. I have used the walk in centre by the PRH and the doctors was very helpful and courteous and the problem I had went away after three days without the need for a prescription to be thrust upon me. Dont forget your GP gets paid per prescription never mind the £7.20 that you have to pay to get the medicines, they also get paid per flu vaccine. There are pros and cons to these facilities, you dont have to use them but when you cannot get into your own registered practice they sure do come in handy.
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I’ve been to one. I was a ‘worried well’ but didn’t know I was well which is why I went. The reason I chose the walk in centre ws because I am unable to make an appointment at my regular doctors more than 48 hours in advance. All the days appointments are gone by 8:45am and they open at 8:30am. The phones are always engaged. Crap service, which is why these centres have a willing queue of people waiting.
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So when we hear that the Fire Service receive 999 calls from people who can’t light the oven or can’t find their keys, the same logic suggests that we should close down the Fire service…?
Providing a more convenient way of accessing health advice/minor treatment – particularly for those who struggle to get to appointments during normal surgery hours – seems like a very worthy ambition to me. And it presumably reduces the burden on the more traditional GP service.
Perhaps Dr Spencer would like to volunteer to provide the out of hours cover if he gets his way and they are closed down?
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I do think he is over egging a little in every day life you will always get the odd numpty ie
phoneing the police for somthing silly also fire , ambulance, people even ask silly things of the odd retail employee, I remember a beutician asking me to carry her stuff when i asked her to drive around to the door she said I cant why I asked becoause i have just got out of the car. Do not stop things because of the odd numpty.
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If doctors want these centres closed, they need to open their surgeries at much more convenient times. You don’t have to be so ill you can’t go to work, to need to see a doctor.
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I have used the one in Shrewsbury twice recently, both times I have been seen very quickly at the weekend when my normal surgery is closed. One occasion was at quarter to 8 on a Sunday night!
Both times I was diagnosed correctly and given immediate treatment. This has saved me a) time off work and b) a potential visit to A&E
Let us remember that GP’s are mostly self employed and perhaps Dr. Spencer is just concerned, as any business owner would be, about a competitor offering a better, more accessible and flexible service meeting the demands of the patient.
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i took my son to the one at the PRH & found them great. It takes ages to get into my local doctors. sometimes you dont have all morning to wait on the phone for an appointment. these walk in ones are ideal & are open much later than the normal ones. seems daft to get rid of something that obviously works, just for one person abusing the system.
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How many of you ACTUALLY work in a busy GP practice?? How can you possibly say you get “crap service” based solely on the fact you can’t get an appointment. Do you realise how many people book appointments each week, only to not turn up! Those are appointments you could have had if not for the time wasters. The staff in your local surgeries work hard to provide a good service and would love to be able to say to everyone that of course they can have an appointment. Is it the staff in your surgery’s fault if the phones are engaged? Should they tell people not to phone to make an appointment just so that the phone is never busy? It makes me so mad that it is always the surgery and the staff that people critisize, yet nothing is said about the time wasters, the people who ring and expect to be seen within the next 5 mins, the people who don’t even have to courtesy to cancel unwanted appointments. How may of you would like to sit and listen to the constant abuse because despite every effort you can’t give everyone exactly what they want.
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To be frank, what this GP says is stupid. If not for the walk in service my Wife would not have been diagnosed and treated immediately for a very painful and potentially debilitating medical issue. Yes you will always get some silly cases, but these are far outweighed by the urgent cases. I also think this GP is thinking about himself and the business it takes away from him. You ask any medical practice these days and they are run as business to MAKE A PROFIT! And by us (the general public) using these walk in centres we take that business away from the traditional medical practices.
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I had just cause to use the Apley drop in centre a few weeks back.
Having had slight chest pains for days & working some 20 miles from conveniently getting to my local GP it was a welcome relief.
My family have a history of heart trouble & I’d be stupid to ignore this pain.
So at 8pm on a Friday I called in & had my mind put at rest & a remedy suggested.
Far better than being late for work or losing hours in the day to attend my GP & have to wait for an appointment.
So Dr Spencer is it sour grapes because these centres provide a vital service within reasonable hours of the day, 8AM-8PM????.
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I’m sure some of the worried well become just plain worried after a diagnostic, and some become the worried sick, but better to be worried sick after having seen the doctor than worried sick waiting weeks for an appt, or having to call each morning to get an appt as you can only book in that day and the phones are constantly engaged and then all the appts are gone – repeat for a week so your blood pressure goes up, give up go to Docs without appt, deal with snotty nosed receptionist so blood pressure goes up further etc etc etc. Walk in clinics are great and will have bigger wait times than docs once more people realise they are out there – also open hours that
Docs aren’t – essentially giving the consumer what they demand rather than dictating – more of them please!
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And the best of it is, Dawley Medical Practice is one of the worst there is for trying to see a doctor! Have to start queueing round the building at 6am to see someone by 10.00am and the receptionists seem to think they know more than the doctors and nurses judging by the completely uneccessary blood test she made me have which was questioned by the nurse when she finally showed up for the appointment that the receptionist made for 30 minutes before the nurse was due to start!
Your practice, Dr. Spencer, is precisely why the walk in centres have been set up!
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These walk in centres probably do a good job in that they help some people who would otherwise be stuck. However, looking at the bigger picture, there are no ‘conseqences’ for the people who block up the GP surgeries with symptoms like a sore throat. GPs should be able to charge the people who are wasting their time and preventing them from seeing people who are genuinely in need.
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Dr Spencer said: “to set up a service for these patients at a time when cancer patients cannot get the latest drugs is indefensible.”
I’d have a bit more sympathy for his views if the average GP wasn’t getting paid £250,000 a year according to the most recent figures. In my book that’s equally indefensible.
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J… I think the whole point is that the standard of service being defined as a four letter word is being experienced by the patient, not by those employed by the practice which you obviously are!
Patients have a reasonably small expectation – to be able to make an appointment when they are sick, see a Dr and be treated if necessary.
We don’t need a crystal ball to foretell in advance when we are going to be sick, we want to see a Dr outside working hours as many of us can’t take time off in the day for necessary but non-emergency appointments.
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Well, my doctor can’t say I didn’t warn him. Specifically, that if he insisted on making such a performance of getting a minor procedure done, the walk-in centres would take over chunks of his business.
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I disagree, I think a lot (not all obviously) have actually got very unreasonable demands. Walking in at the end of the day after apparently being ill for three days and expecting the doctor to drop everything to see them straight away and hurling abuse at the “snotty reeptionists” for explaining that they may have to wait but they will be seen. To me that is unreasonable. We work long hours and do our best to help people if we can. I may work in a surgery, but the thing people tend to forget is that we still get ill, still have to go through the exact same process as everyone to get an appointment, the only difference is we don’t tend to treat people with hostility or abuse because we appriciate how difficult it is. Of course no-one can predict illness, but I do take offence at the generalisation that the service is crap, the staff are snotty etc etc.
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Old Dr. Spencer is a wooried man. I work full time and just can’t get to my surgery because they only open on the exact times I work. So it’s a day off work if I want to go see the Dr. I took time out sometime ago to go and look at this walk in centre at Princess Royal. Clean modern, OPEN, and was fortunate enough to speak to the Practice Manager “Sandra”. What a nice, caring, considerate informative lady She took time out from her day to talk to me and explain what the idea was. Just what I want and others in Telford I think. So some idiot got to see a doctor with ketchup on his face. At least he got in Dr Spencer. I should change your ways Dr Spencer or your business is history. Good on you Sandra keep up the good work.
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I have now registerd with the PRH because you are greeted by the reception staff in a happy pleasent manner unlike my old doctors. Also when you ring and speak with the reception staff they are very polite, helpful and nothing is too much bother. Again unlike my previous practise. No more engaged tone when wanting an appointment and then being told try again the next day. All the doctors and nurses are very professional, unlike my previous doctors.
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J – sounds like you just need to find yourself another job, perferably far away from the service industry – let me answer your questions
**How can you possibly say you get “crap service” based solely on the fact you can’t get an appointment. //
As consumers/customers our experience and therefore perception/reality is based on whether we can get what we need/want, when we need/want it, for a reasonable price. Doctors core business is to see patients, if patients can’t get appts then this is a problem, as in any other business this means customers will migrate to other places to get service that more meets their needs/wants. //
**Do you realise how many people book appointments each week, only to not turn up! To be frank, not my problem….and again I’ll take my ‘business’ elsewhere if they meet my needs better. If there are as many appts cancelled as you allude to then perhaps Doctors could see walk in patients in these appt times, anyhow, your job to find a solution, or your customers will – oops, they did – they went to a walk in clinic.//
**Is it the staff in your surgery’s fault if the phones are engaged? Yes, if you haven’t got enough people to answer the phones, employ some more people.//
** Should they tell people not to phone to make an appointment just so that the phone is never busy? No, see above, although I suppose from your point of view, if it weren’t for these damn customers then business would be great, hey, wait..it’s those customers who pay your wage and make your business what it is. //
**It makes me so mad that it is always the surgery and the staff that people critisize, yet nothing is said about the time wasters, the people who ring and expect to be seen within the next 5 mins, the people who don’t even have to courtesy to cancel unwanted appointments. Again, not my problem to deal with – thats yours as the supplier of the service, same as if I have difficulty calling a restaraunt for an appt or get crappy service I don’t blame the customers. If cx want to be seen within 5-mins then make it happen or they will take their business elsewhere, oh, wait – they already did.// **How may of you would like to sit and listen to the constant abuse because despite every effort you can’t give everyone exactly what they want. Doesn’t seem like every effort is being made to me, or perhaps you are making every effort and this is just beyond your capabilities. In my experience receptionists give as good as they get and approach every patient as if they are about to become abusive which causes frustration and tension on both sides. I’m a mature, professional woman and really don’t appreciate a doctors receptionists approach in most cases. BTW – I came to Canada some years ago, we are fortunate to have a public health system – we have walk ins, Phone is always answered within 3-rings for an appt same or next day – if appt is booked in advance then it is confirmed in writing plus an email and voicemail message is sent to remind of appt (automated system) and gives option to cancel at that point, plus, and this is really incredible – the Doctor calls a few days after the appt to see how we are getting on with medication or have any other questions that weren’t covered! It can be done – Doctors in the UK just need to remember they are essentially paid by patients and need to cater to their needs.
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Do you know what, I don’t need to find another job, I am very good at my job, I treat people with respect and courtesy REGARDLESS of how I am treated and the same can be said for all of my colleagues. We offer prebookable appointments, Saturday service, visits and we never turn anyone away if they need a doctor. However, there is only so much any practice can do when the demand outweighs the hours in a day. We try hard to provide for people who work but as you have discovered it isn’t always possible. I often find that people are very quick to slate the reception staff when they don’t get what they want straight away and conviniently forget that we are in exactly the same same position as you. So does that mean we should be treated with disregard? In answer to your above posting, I don’t have a problem with “damn customers” as you put it. I have a good relationship with the patients. Please do not try and twist my words when I am merely pointing out that there are many factors that contribute to you being unable to have an appointment. I’m sure many of you haven’t actually got a clue about this job, just as I know nothing about your profession. ~If you want to take your “business elsewhere”, that is your choice. You think it isn’t your problem if people don’t turn up….we obviously it is if the end result is that there isn’t an appointment for you because someone else hasn’t turned up! Again, telling people not to phone so the phone isn’t engaged. That clearly isn’t what I said, I’m not the one complaining that I can never get through on the phone.
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Rob, I find it amazing how many people think GPs earn 250K per year. I work about 70 hours per week and earn approx 85K. Trust me when I say 70 hours, it is no easy thing to do as a doctor. Any case may be life threatening and one must make difficult dicisions on the spot. Every evening I am thinking about my patients and worrying I have not missed anything serious. I wish I could earn even half the amount of money which apparently all GPs seem to be earning.
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Get out the tissues most, if not all who run there own business work 70 hours+,we also earn decent money but hey ho it is the choice we made as a DRS is his/hers but it does not give them the right to bleed the system dry as with the refusal to administer the swine flu vac to healthy children over money. Why in fact are they being paid to do it when it can be given by a nurse?? at our surgery the nurse watched the dr?? what is all that about ?? I would also add our dr failed to give it to our youngest after scareing him to death on entrance , and yet 3 days later the dentist gave an injection and filling and stated perhaps you should send your gp for retraining or she should not deal with children . About time gps were given mot’s every five years one for the new guv to think about.
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