said the plans would lead to "cut-price general practice". A spokesperson for the Department of Health said "where people choose to register with a GP-led health centre, they should expect the same quality and continuity of care from GPs and other primary care clinicians as they would from any other GP practice". On 10 September 2008, an NHS London press release and fact sheet announced details of 5 of a possible 13 polyclinics in the first wave in London. They were to be developed by the following primary care trusts: Harrow PCT: Alexandra Avenue Hounslow PCT: Heart of Hounslow Lambeth PCT: Gracefield Gardens Redbridge PCT: Loxford Centre Waltham Forest PCT Also anticipated in the first wave were: Camden PCT: Four federated polyclinics Haringey PCT: Currently rethinking plans to close 37 surgeries Kensington and Chelsea PCT: Five surgeries to be relocated to polyclinic hub at St Charles Community Hospital Opinion Opinion on the plans for polyclinics was polarised. Nigel Edwards, Policy Director NHS Confederation Paul Ward, Deputy Chief Executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust, commented: Samantha Mauger, Chief Executive of Age Concern London, said: Although government-backed, one study by Professor Martin Roland, of the University of Manchester concluded that such clinics are likely to offer poorer choice and worse access than traditional GP surgeries; and they have faced opposition from doctors, health experts, and patients. The British Medical Journal claimed that the government has been bringing pressure to bear on primary care trusts to implement them despite this opposition. Despite this they are a mainstay of the report by British peer Lord Darzi into the modernisation of the NHS. Bernd Rechel of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Martin McKee of the London School of Economics observed: The British Medical Association was opposed to polyclinics from the start, observing that larger clinics were already emerging where needed, that forcing their introduction was wasteful and costly, and that they would undermine the value of a relationship existing between GP and patient. They have further commented that the design of the proposals appears deliberately to disadvantage existing GPs from applying to run the clinics, leaving the way open for privatisation of GP services. A significant proportion of the general public are opposed to polyclinics, with more than a million signing the British Medical Association's petition against them. Press reports suggested that they were unpopular with patients, particularly the elderly, who