TWO of the Government’s flagship health policies appear to be listing badly after broadsides from researchers.

Pulse (March 15) says that a damning report has revealed flaws in ministers’ plans to shift care from hospitals into primary care.

The report reviews the evidence on moving care into the community and, says Pulse, “casts a long shadow” on claims that some procedures could be carried out in primary care at considerably lower cost.

The study finds that few policies will cut demand in hospitals while maintaining quality, although direct GP access to diagnostic tests is one example.

The study’s author, Professor Martin Roland, director of the National Primary Care Research and Development Centre, says that only in places where access to hospitals is difficult, such as rural areas, will shifting work prove beneficial. He says of the policy: “It should be applied selectively where patients will benefit.”

But the Department of Health is ready with a riposte. “We hear time and again [that] most people want an NHS that provides services closer to home. It’s better for patients if chronic conditions are dealt with in the community.”

In Doctor (March 13), NHS walk-in centres, also central to Government health policy, come under attack.

New research has indicated that the centres have not cut waiting times to see GPs and in many cases simply duplicate the care provided by family doctors The findings have angered GPs. One says: “Walk-in centres need closing down and the money ploughed back into primary care.”

But again the Department of Health sees the findings differently. A spokesman tells GP (March 16) that walk-in centres have “attracted patients who would not have otherwise visited a GP”.

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