Policy Hub
On 5 June 2008, the King's Fund published a report (Under one roof: will polyclinics deliver integrated care?) which analyses the opportunities and risks associated with developing polyclinics.
The report welcomes the government’s ambition to develop more patient focused and integrated types of care but warns that poor implementation could create significant risks.
It concludes that bringing together multiple services does not always result in better working practices between professionals and insists that there is no evidence that larger GP practices deliver higher quality care than smaller ones, although they may be able to offer a wider range of services.
While some patients would enjoy improved access to diagnostic and other services, the report suggests that the major centralisation of GP services into polyclinics would make it difficult for many patients to visit their GP, particularly in rural areas.
Moreover, successful examples of integrated care delivered in polyclinics abroad may not be easily transferred to the NHS in England due to important differences in the medical workforce. In England most specialists are based in hospitals and not in the community as is so often the case in other countries.
The report’s recommendations aim to provide guidance for local NHS services and commissioners as to how to realise the opportunities and avoid the risks of introducing these new models of care.