The success of polyclinics in London is to assessed to find out whether the controversial developments are improving healthcare and patient access.
The new clinics, which house GPs alongside other health professionals, have been set up by London’s PCTs in a bid to give people a faster, more convenient and higher-quality health service.
The trusts have set out a series of requirements for an external review following criticism from some GPs.
Wandsworth GP Tom Coffey, said: “One of the comments from a lot of my GP colleagues has been: ‘What is the evidence base for polyclinics?’
“[We want to] see that the model we are putting in London, which will introduce many smaller research based changes, will deliver overall.”
It is hoped the evaluation set out by the PCTs and clinicians, through Healthcare for London, will assess whether polyclinics have met their goals and help to improve commissioning of the model.
David Sissling, Healthcare for London programme director, said: “This evaluation demonstrates our commitment to learning from the first polyclinics.
“We are keen to improve the development of polyclinics through understanding how far polyclinics have met their goals and sharing the outputs of the evaluation.”
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