To most of us it’s just “the NHS” – but the reality is that it’s a very complex organisation. Did you know that there is a Social Enterprise called based in the old ambulance station in Welwyn Garden City at Ascots Lane?
No. Nor me neither! But there is – complete with a Board of nine Directors, four of whom are Doctors.
What’s it for?
Presumably the idea is that by co-ordinating and streamlining services, the NHS can deliver better value for less money. This is of course a wise and a good objective – but the major problem with the NHS at the moment is it’s capacity.
What do they do?
They run the NHS 111 services for Hertfordshire, for Peterborough & Cambridgeshire – 250,000 and 175,000 calls a year respectively.
And they run the GP Out of Hours Service and have over 250 GPs and nurses on-call to provide support. They provide advice, can give an appointment at one of 10 bases or make a home visit.
They also run the West Herts Medical Centre in Hemel Hempstead, providing GP Services 8am to 8pm from the same premises as the Urgent Care Centre.
In the North East of the County they run an Acute In Hours Visiting Service aimed at preventing hospital admissions by making immediate day-time visits providing treatment and assessment.
For both Herts and Cambs they also provide a Dental Service to help patients find a dentist quickly, give self-help advice and, if appropriate, refer to emergency duty dentists.
Finally they run a District Nurse Call Handling Service to ensure the service works smoothly on bank holidays and out-of-hours.
The Verdict?
Sounds like a good idea – but here’s a radical thought. After 60 years or more, shouldn’t we be reviewing the provision of local services?
At the moment nearly all Primary Care is delivered by GPs who are independent contractors delivering health services mainly from their own premises as private partnerships or as limited companies.
Things have changed since 1948. Perhaps we could consider larger surgeries in custom-built premises with space for hospital consultant visits, biomedical testing and a broader range of diagnostic testing?
Why should so many people have to make their way to hospitals in crowded urban areas when most could be catered for in new, improved local medical centres?