[1] A variety of models were proposed,[2][3] ranging from networks of existing clinics to larger premises with several colocated general practitioner (GP) practices, more extensive facilities and additional services provided by allied healthcare professionals.
The incoming health secretary in May 2010 Andrew Lansley put on hold all plans to increase numbers of polyclinics and to relocate GPs to them pending a review of policy under the new coalition government,[4] after a review by management consultants McKinsey revealed "NHS managers had vastly overestimated the ability of polysystems to handle the shift in care from hospitals and revolutionise GP care".
[20] The Department of Health and the government claimed that polyclinics offer: A report by the King's Fund has questioned many of these, observing that: The report also observed that the proposals were likely to increase professional isolation, and threaten both professional development and motivation, and continuity of care, and that pre-existing problems in healthcare to do with the lack of an overall governance structure, and unclear lines of accountability had not been addressed.
[22] The Conservative Party leader David Cameron did not object in principle to the case for polyclinics but is worried that they might be imposed against the wishes of communities.
[23] The Health Minister Ben Bradshaw, however, denied that individual GP practices would be closed as patients would remain registered with their existing GPs.
[27] The Conservative Party claimed that unless existing surgeries close, polyclinics will leave a £1.4 billion "black hole" in public finances.
[28] Polyclinics were originally planned for and implemented in London, with every primary care trust in the country subsequently required to have at least one new "GP-led health centre".
[31] As of August 2008, more than a quarter of PCTs had plans to implement a polyclinic or GP-led health centre,[32] including Birmingham, Cumbria, Lincolnshire, Rochdale, Cheshire, Essex and Bolton.
[35] The other political parties have also criticised it, with the leader of the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg calling it "the central imposition of a polyclinic on every primary care trust, regardless of the geography, demographics and clinical needs of the area" while acknowledging that they might be a good thing for people in some communities[36] and Conservative leader David Cameron suggesting large-scale closures of existing GP surgeries.
Polyclinics are based on long term trends of what works best in healthcare, and in fact there are many practices successfully operating under a similar model already.
While it may sound like the polyclinic system will not resemble the service currently provided by family doctors, in reality it should build on what is best in general practice.
Advisers from the World Bank, the EU, and many bilateral donors agreed that the polyclinic had failed to deliver modern, integrated health care and saw general practices as the future.