ANYONE who has had the problem of trying to get a same-day appointment with their busy family doctor will welcome Tony Blair's vision of an NHS which makes visiting doctors' surgeries as simple as calling in at the shops.

For despite heavily-publicised efforts to reduce the queues for hospital treatment, millions of people know that much of the waiting-list vexation lies in the difficulty of getting to see a GP - sometimes even in the same week or fortnight if they seek an appointment with a specific member of a practice.

And, while some of the strain may be eased by the heal-thyself remedies the government plans in the form of 24-hour telephone helplines manned by doctors and nurses and by medical advice being made available on the Internet and in places like libraries, post offices and supermarkets, it is hard to see how much real difference will be made by the rest of the proposals the Prime Minister has outlined.

We hear of 20 drop-in medical centres, which will open from 7am to 10pm, being set up to begin this transformation and of plans for a network of one-stop health centres where doctors, dentists, pharmacists, physiotherapists and chiropodists will all be available.

The whole concept is admirable and visionary, but is it really feasible?

After all, the NHS is already suffering from such an acute shortage of nursing staff that it has difficulty maintaining services inside the hospitals, let alone extending them outside in the primary care sector to ease the pressure on GPs.

And where are the doctors going to come from for these new places - when Britain has the fewest of them per head of population in Europe and the effects of this shortage can be seen in the existing difficulties in getting to see the already-overburdened GPs?

It is also the case that, despite the prevailing frustrations, many patients prefer to be seen by a doctor they know and who knows them.

This beneficial relationship stands to be destroyed if the trade-off for quick access to primary care is being seen by a strange and tired doctor or nurse moonlighting on shifts at one of these new drop-in centres.

Nevertheless, Mr Blair's goal is one to be worked for, but in the short-term it stands to deliver a patchwork and perhaps lower-quality service if the human resources are not available to fulfil the ideal.

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