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Health centres in Acton (Peel), Southall (Jubilee Gardens), Northolt (Grand Union Village) and West Ealing (Daniel's site) are due to open in April next year, each of which will host 2-5 GP practices.

The clinics will provide additional services such as onsite blood tests, screening and physiotherapy amongst others. However, for patients, particularly the elderly, who have enjoyed the convenience of a local surgery will suffer adversely. Others are concerned with parking difficulties they are likely to face.

Robert Creighton, Chief Executive Ealing PCT says some of these surgeries are just not suitable anymore. He says:

鈥淢any practices are too small to house all the doctors and nurses they require to meet their patients鈥� needs and when surgeries are truly out of date there should be no sentimentality about transferring to updated facilities.鈥�

Closures inevitable

Within the Dormer Wells and Lady Margaret wards of North Southall five practices are considered below minimum standard and nine cannot be improved. Ealing PCT want to move three or four of these surgeries into the new centre in Jubilee Gardens, so what then happens to the remaining ten? If they can鈥檛 be improved will they have to close? Ealing PCT are enable to answer this at the moment.

'Mini' polyclinics?

These clinics appear to be highly similar in function to Lord Darzi鈥檚 polyclinic idea, one that is encouraging the government to open 150 such clinics across the country. It's also an idea that has recently been criticised by the think tank, the King's Fund. Chief executive Niall Dickson says:

"Bringing together multiple services does not always result in better working practices between professionals, and there is no evidence that larger GP practices deliver higher quality care than smaller ones."

A public meeting about the new West Ealing Integrated Care Centre will be held on Tuesday 24 June from 5.30pm - 8.00pm.

Your thoughts are welcome, what do you think of these new clinics?

ramaa.sharma@bbc.co.uk