There is no such animal.
What is in contemplation is a walk in centre and at its heart will be a general practice much like any other in the town.
Obviously we would like to provide as good a range of services as possible in the community and the area to be served has been chosen with the interests of the many visitors to the town in mind.
There are also a number of potential patients who are not registered at any of the existing practices and who might be better served by a walk in centre than by a wait in A & E.
It may well be that the walk in centre will be provided by existing GPs in the town, although it is of course open to others to tender to provide the service.
Polyclinics have their place in the NHS, but if ever they are to be provided within the area the East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT serves, they will be described as such and only instituted after full discussion with public, patients and local clinicians.
Currently we see no need for them and are perfectly satisfied with the way general practice has developed at the Park surgery, Priory Park and the Apollo Centre.
Such developments are usually initiated by local clinicians and furthered by the PCT.
I can assure your readers that this is the way the PCT prefers to proceed and would advise them not to mistake a walk in centre for an ill-disguised polyclinic. It is not.
John Barnes, chairman, East Sussex Downs and Weald Primary Care Trust, Friars Walk, Lewes