This is exactly what I wanted to happen. there is a serious threat to traditional general practice which is being brought in quietly, with the general public kept in ignorance, as the issues are too complex to explain in a letter, or even as an hours long television programme. For this reason, the problem has not been debated in public. The issues are hidden by the ploy that whenever we try to raise them, they quote the oft repeated distortion that GPs are now paid £115,000 so who are they to complain. (This figure, by the way, includes all the work GPs do outside the NHS, such as the out of hours services and other private work, It also includes a government superannuation contribution which every government employee gets, but this is added to the GPs wages for them to pay directly. The true figure is far, far lower, and has dropped every year for the last three years).

None of the councillors mention how this centre is to be funded. At first I thought it would be a £1 million, but if we take the likely staffing needed (medical, nursing, managerial, clerical and cleaning) and the protected rent paid to the private contractor, it will certainly cost no less than £2 million per annum. Where is this to come from? This is £45,000 from each of Doncaster's general practices - nearly the cost of two full-time practice nurses.

Who will be seen at the centre? will it be patients who are already undergoing treatment for long term conditions, or will it be, in the words of Rotherham PCT's CEO on television about their polyclinic "if you feel a bit under the weather in the evening, there will be somewhere for you to go." £2 million from budgets that are already overstretched for people with serious conditions, for those feeling "a bit under the weather?" This place will duplicate services already there, at a very high cost. And for those thinking they will get their routine checks for - say - hypertension, diabetes and other chronic diseases after 6pm or at weekends, it will hardly be worthwhile as any bloods needed will need to be taken within normal working hours, as the NHS laboratories only work office hours.

If the walking well decide to register there when they are working, this will lead to a reduction in GPs lists (people like Robin Wilkins makes the point that it is often hard for working people to get an appointment later in the day or at weekends. They won't be able to get the appointments out of hours at hospitals either. But full time GPs are already working 50+ a week and try to put their appointments when most people who are ill need them, which is during the day). 15 per cent of any GPs list will comprise of people who only attend for very minor illness, so there is a potential loss of income of that amount if they choose to go to the clinic. That will mean cuts in the GPs services.

Is the whole matter of any financial interest to me? No, I have been a GP in this town for almost 40 years, work very part time now, and will retire totally when government conditions restricting how I work become totally unbearable. I have done my own on call for over 25 years, have worked doing nights at out GP run out of hours service for ten years, yet GPs such as me are suddenly portrayed by the government as the bad guys, when we have been holding the NHS together all these years. The new contract was brought in at government insistence, not GPs, as there was a severe shortage of recruitment into general practice.

The reason I wrote the letter is that when I actually need a good FGP as I get older, there will be none there. Instead they will be replaced by a few doctors, and mainly nurses and health care workers working on a computer to supply primary care. The idea that you have a GP you know and trust will be gone in a very few years if the present planning continues. From 40 years experience, I know that the one thing patients value as much as competence, is having a GP who knows them and their family, and who acts as their advocate to other branches of the NHS.

Of course there have been improvements to the NHS over the last ten years. There was an awful lot to improve, and I remember when it took five years for people with arthritis of the hip to get an operation. But that is irrelevant here. What matters are the plans government have to destroy traditional general practice, but are unwilling to put them before the general public.

97 per cent of GPs have no confidence in how the government is running general practice recent poll). As we GPs have been holding primary care together since the NHS inception, why are we suddenly portrayed as just being interested in our own selfish needs? I an not scaremongering.

There is a serious change in direction about primary care in this country and these polyclinics are just the first episode. Remember, this is taking £2 million from Doncaster's health service budget and spending it on services which are already provided. It means this £2 million can't be spent on services where there is presently a need. For instance, does anyone seriously believe enough is being spend for homebound elderly patients who can't care for themselves.

Ask your own doctor, whom you trust, whether they are concerned for the future of general practice or for lining their own pockets. Being a professional means that you put your job first (and certainly my own family will attest to that over the years).

Dr Tony le Vann
The Scott Practice
Greenfield Lane
Doncaster