AGAINST the wishes of University Hospital Lewisham and the Federation of Lewisham GPs, the Primary Care Trust has decided to press ahead with the new GP-led walk-in centre at the Waldron site in New Cross, instead of opening one at the hospital itself.

With just one other GP clinic near the UHL site, it would make sense to boost the number of family doctors there.

Yet the PCT will create a new GP service – which private providers can bid for – in New Cross which will compete with eight existing surgeries in a quarter-mile area. Why?

The PCT argued New Cross, as a transport hub, was more accessible to patients.

But in fact more bus services run directly past Lewisham Hospital.

It argued another New Cross service is needed because many people there are not registered with a GP.

But the Waldron already hosts four GP clinics, with the capacity to expand.

What the area needs is effective outreach to unregistered patients, an issue I have explored in my investigation of women’s health inequalities.

Unfortunately this decision – and the three planned "polyclinics" for Lewisham – look less like effective ways to meet patients’ needs and more like ways to engineer opportunities for the private sector to get a toehold in the NHS.


Councillor Romayne Phoenix
Lewisham Green Party