Patients who want an urgent doctors appointment may have to travel to a "same-day" hub rather than see their own GP.

Doctors have been told that from April, NHS North West London Integrated Care Board (ICB) will effectively mandate the use of “same-day access” hubs.

This would mean patients across Westminster, Brent and Harrow must attend one of these hubs if they want a same-day appointment for less complex health problems.

This would leave GP practices with only patients with complex care issues to see - but one Brent doctor says patients fear this does not take their needs into account.

According to GP news website Pulse Today, a care co-ordinator, rather than a doctor, would initially assess a patient’s needs – although there would be a supervising GP at each hub.

It is expected that groups of GP practices could come together to form the hubs, which would be located at one of the surgeries or another suitable premises – potentially meaning some patients have to travel further for their care.

This paper understands that GPs were told about the plans, reportedly devised by consultants at KPMG, in more detail this week.

The lead GP at the Brent practice rated best by patients has now said it is disappointing that the plans are being “imposed and rushed into delivery”.

Dr Nam Hunger-Nguyen, from Church End Medical Centre in Mayo Road, said: “We all know that access, especially for same-day appointments, is an important factor for patients and their loved ones.

“Our patients have voiced concerns that their needs are not being taken into account when redesigning this proposed hub model.

“This has often been the case in the past when central solutions did not take into account the local needs of local Brent residents.

“In particular, patients often feel let down by fragmented care, so to fragment their GP experience even further feels to them to not be the right direction of travel.”

He added: “Myself, many of my close colleagues and wider GP leaders are extremely concerned about further widening health inequality and reducing continuity of care.”

Health group Brent Patient Voice has also raised concerns about the proposals, highlighting the fact a care co-ordinator and not a doctor would initially see patients.

Its chair Robin Sharp said: “There’s supposed to be a GP in the background in these same-day hubs, but it’s not an automatic requirement that the care co-ordinator refers to them if they have doubts.

“Its traditional in the NHS since it started that a trained doctor is responsible for you – the receptionist doesn’t try to diagnose you!

“I think it will be undermining general practice as we’ve known it, and for all those stresses and strains that the general practices have, it’s still in my view the cornerstone of the NHS.”

North West London ICB did not respond to a request for comment about the plans.