As anticipated and in spite of opposition from Shoebury residents as well as the unwillingness of NHS GPs to move from Shoebury Health Centre, South East Essex Primary Care Trust board voted in favour of building a superclinic on the Garrison site.

The board is claiming it has responded to the concerns of the public by deferring the decision on the immediate closure of Shoebury House to its meeting in January with a view to maintaining services on this site until the new centre is built.

It says it has listened to the concerns of pharmacists about the proposal to include a pharmacy in the new centre by deferring that decision until the outline business case, which requires both the board and NHS East of England approval.

However, the public and the doctors will not be fooled by the reassurances of the board that their concerns have been met. They fear, in the new superclinic planned for the Garrison site, patients will lose easy access to and personal care provided by GPs.

The Government has been busy implementing patchwork privatisation of the NHS. Its scheme to build superclinics is an extension into primary care of the privatisation process.

The GP as an independent contractor stands in the way of this process, which will in the future involve big private companies running these superclinics.

The NHS as a publicly funded and run health service, free at the point of delivery is under threat and we must do all we can to oppose the plans of the Government.

Dr Norman Traub
Secretary
Southend Keep Our NHS Public
Picketts Avenue
Leigh