FAIR TREATMENT?

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The busy Macklin Street surgery, typical of most of the city's overstretched medical centres has 10,500 patients on its books and it's not unusual to find a surgery packed with people waiting to see a doctor. The scene is repeated across the city centre, with many surgeries struggling under the sheer numbers of patients. Many practices are refusing to accept new patients and others are restricting access to new arrivals in the city.

About a mile away is the Fountain Primary Care Service in Sale Street, Rose Hill which has fewer than 100 patients. The practice opened its doors in March specifically to care for all new asylum seekers arriving in the city. The move sparked controversy after all 1,900 previous patients at the practice, then known as the Sai Medical Centre, were informed in October that it would close within a week. The patients were allocated to other struggling surgeries across the city.

Now that the new practice, which is exclusively for asylum seekers, has come into operation, the anger felt by former patients has been re-ignited. They say that they now have to travel much further to see a doctor, yet have seen few patients entering the new surgery. Health officials say that the new practice is necessary to relieve pressure in the system because asylum seekers pose more problems for doctors.

Nearly 2,000 patients whose GP has retired are now facing a four-mile round trip across the city to see a doctor. Patients at The Surgery, North Street, Littleover, have faced months of uncertainty since Dr Farouk Ibrahim announced in March that he would be retiring in June. The 1,950 patients at his surgery were informed that Vernon Street Medical Centre, Derby, which has four GPs and eight nurses for its current list of 7,000 patients, would take on the patients and continue to run surgeries from the North Street practice.

However, it was revealed that the offer put in by Vernon Street's doctors to buy the premises in North Street, owned by Dr Ibrahim, had been unsuccessful. This means that as of July 25, patients will have a round trip of four miles to Vernon Street to see a doctor.

About three quarters of the people living in central Derby should soon be able to consult with a GP or nurse on the day that they call their practice for an appointment. Five more of central Derby's 16 surgeries are considering joining a Government initiative to cut waiting times. The nationwide initiative, called advanced access, means that patients can see a doctor or health care professional on the same day that they make an appointment. In December, four practices in central Derby signed up to the initiative with the aim of seeing all patients on the same day or within 24 hours.

They were the Wellside Medical Centre and Charnwood Surgery in Burton Road, the Wilson Street Surgery and the Hollybrook Medical Centre in Hollybrook Way, Heatherton. Government targets state that, by December, 2004, all patients should be able to see a primary care professional within 24 hours or see a GP within 48 hours. Ruth Brailsford, primary care access facilitator for the Central Derby Primary Care Trust, which is responsible for GP services in Derby, said that positive results had been seen at all four practices involved in the scheme.

She said that, at these surgeries, the average waiting time to see a GP had been reduced from more than six days before the scheme started to less than a day. Overall figures across central Derby's 16 surgeries are, however, short of the target. In May, 88% of people saw a health care professional within 24 hours and 68 per cent of people saw a GP within two days. A further five practices are now looking at joining the scheme:Lister House Surgery in Harrington Street; Macklin Street Surgery; Village Street Surgery; Pear Tree Clinic in Pear Tree Road, and Dale Medical Centre in Lower Dale Road. Mrs Brailsford said that the addition of these five practices would mean that 90,000 of central Derby's 120,000 population would benefit.

Macklin Street Surgery, which has the equivalent of five-and-a-half full-time doctors to look after 10,300 patients, is looking at changes to incorporate some form of advanced access. Dr John Grenville said, "Macklin Street is currently involved with the PCT access scheme and is looking at whether or not advanced access is an option." In the 22 surgeries covered by the Greater Derby PCT, which is responsible for the rest of Derby, half of the population is now covered by advanced access, with the remaining practices expected to join by next year. Trish Thompson, director of patient services for the Greater Derby PCT, said that patients were now finding it easier to get appointments.

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