Dr Chisholm and Dr Fradd are honourable men

I idly Googled Concordia Health and Melbourne Grove Surgery and up popped this from the East Dulwich Forum, where people are discussing which general practice would recommend:

Well - I would definitely NOT recommend Melbourne Grove Surgery or its sister practice - Parkside Medical Centre (at Camberwell Green). Unfortunately they are both run by a company - Concordia Health, and their stated policy is that everyone must have a nurse appointment first. If you request a Dr's appointment, the best you will get is a booked telephone appointment with a nurse first!!

I have heard that there are massive problems at these practices due to the way that Concordia are running the practices. There have been articles in Southwark News and the medical press in recent weeks exposing the way they are running the practices.

FHR, the Gardens and Nunhead Grove are far superior practices.

It is all here. Take a look round the forum.

Is it true? Certainly not. No compassionate doctor would do this, so it can't be true. A company run by two revered ex-BMA negotiators saying that a patient cannot see a doctor without a nurse's permission? Not possible. Chisholm and Fradd are compassionate men. They are not in this for the money. There is nothing on the Melbourne Grove website saying that you do not have direct access to a doctor, and I am sure the doctors there are honest and hard working. They would not indulge in fraudulent misrepresentation.

I don't believe a word of it.

What does the local paper, the Southwark News, say:

A private company which has taken over two of the borough’s medical centres may lay off GPs so ‘more patients can be seen’. Concordia Health took over the running of Parkside Medical Centre in Camberwell and Melbourne Grove Medical Practice in East Dulwich from the PCT in July 2006 and told the 'News' that it set out to ‘improve the speed of patient access through a restructuring of its skills mix.’

But a document leaked to the 'News' this week claimed that GPs were being replaced with nurses.

Concordia was furious that the leak had made its way into the public domain, with Medical Director and Chairman, Dr Simon Fradd telling the ‘News’: "You have been passed highly sensitive, commercial-in-confidence information which is strictly between the company and its employees at this stage. No decisions have been taken and staff are being involved in planning presently."

Dr Fradd confirmed that ‘restructuring’ was taking place but no decisions had been made on redundancies: "Plans potentially involve a partial restructuring, the details of which are yet to be defined. We remain hopeful that no individuals will be made redundant."

The 'redundancy rationale' is being proposed to increase the number of patients by employing nurses. Dr Fradd continued: "We will have achieved, after the possible restructure, a 25 per cent increase in the availability of prescribing appointments per patient, compared to the practices we inherited.”

Dr Jane Fryer, Southwark’s Health and Social Care Medical Director, said: "We have now met with Concordia Health, who have given their assurance that delivering the highest and safest quality of care to their patients is their first priority. We will continue to monitor the situation and meet with Concordia Health to make sure that this remains the case."

Bloody journalists. They love slagging of doctors. How dare they suggest that Simon is unprincipled or that he is trading on his BMA experience to undermine family doctors so that his company can make a fast buck. Outrageous. He is not like that. He used to be one of my representatives on the BMA. He has devoted his life to improving patient care and the lot of the family doctor. He is an honourable man and a very clever man. He is one of my heroes. He has even invented a new sort of consultation with a doctor. He calls it "a prescribing appointment." The layman might say this is duplicitous flummery. It is not. Obviously, a "prescribing appointment" means an appointment with someone who is properly trained to prescribe. Someone who has been to medical school and spent five years learning about patient care. A doctor. Like Simon. Simon is a doctor. He would never do anything to restrict patients' access to their GP.

I can understand Simon's anger that a newspaper should reveal

"highly sensitive, commercial-in-confidence information which is strictly between the company and its employees at this stage."

Leave the poor man in peace. The whole profession is behind you, Simon. We know you will get it right.