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Ground-breaking - the One.Day centre

FOR a place which comes into contact with so many different ailments, the new One.Day medical centre in London Road, Leigh, looks in remarkably fine shape itself.

The purpose-built private treatment centre, in London Road, Leigh, deals with a range of conditions.

The fields of expertise are announced above the reception desk - in much the way an airline might list its destinations.

Cystoscopy, gastroscopy, biopsy, cryotherapy, and colonoscopy are among the procedures performed by this cutting-edge centre.

Indeed, if you want an idea of the way health provision may look in the future, this is arguably a good place to start.

One.Day's directors believe it is the first centre of its kind.

Ben Watson, of Sibenet, the company involved in devising One.Day, reckons it will be the template for many others. He says: "There is a huge opportunity to replicate this facility. If it's in the M25 area, we'll do it ourselves."

As the name suggests, the emphasis is on speed of response, on eliminating the delays and sitting around which have come to be tolerated as par for the course in hospitals.

One.Day is fond of the term, rapid response - applied not just to treatment, but to the way it focuses on treatments for which there is a market demand.

Founder Dr Paul Husselbee says: "We identified specialties where the main aim can be achieved in one day.

"Obviously, there are areas, such as psychiatrics, which don't respond best to this approach, but it still allows for a wide range."

The relative compactness of the building helps to cut delays. Consultation, scanning and analysis all take place within a few yards of each other.

"Hospitals are big places," adds Nicky Houston, one of the centre's directors.

"Just getting from one part of the hospital to another can eat up time.

"Here, a consultant can just wander downstairs to check a scan. It makes a big difference."

However, One.Day's most considerable attraction - both for patients and the medical specialists - is its state-of-the-art equipment.

Centre manager Tina Walton said: "If a consultant can make good use of a piece of equipment here, they can have it."

All involved at One.Day are careful not to disparage the NHS, but the difference is clear, as Mr Watson puts it, rather diplomatically: "Medical technology is moving forward with incredible speed.

"We are able to keep up with the pace."

At present, treatment is confined to private patients, but the team claims the local primary care trust is "impressed" and "would like NHS patients treated here, too".

Diehard advocates of socialised medicine may take issue with One.Day as a future role model, but others will see it as an example of Southend living up to its reputation for innovative businesses.

The centre was the brainchild of director Dr Husselbee, whose GP practice is next door.

He worked with manager Tina Walton even before the centre was opened to establish a pattern of care.

Nine consultants work at the centre and are shareholders.

Mrs Walton said: "It came together because we had the team to pull it together and make it happen."

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