Ministers have announced plans to open seven “walk-in” GP clinics in railway and tube stations in London, Manchester, Newcastle and Leeds.

Open from 7am to 7pm, treatments ranging from physiotherapy to blood pressure checks and prescriptions will be available to commuters without appointment.  Although nurses will predominantly staff them, GPs will be on hand for the busiest periods.

“The new NHS walk-in centres will make it easier for commuters to fit seeing a GP or nurse around their daily lives,” said health minister John Hutton.
“The 12-hour opening hours and convenient location are ideal for meeting the needs of today’s patients.  These centres will improve access to primary care for a proportion of society that has traditionally been poorly served.”

But opposition parties and medical organisations have expressed concern about the potential “fragmentation of patient care”, as medical records will not be available to the walk-in centres.
“Walk-in centres should not replace GP out-of-hours services, which are a precious service to the community with evening and Saturday morning surgeries now a thing of the past,” said shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley.

The centres are scheduled to open next spring, at a cost of £25 million.