A doctor has expressed her concerns about a GP-led health centre due to open in Bath in the spring.

Dr Dominique Thompson said doctors were worried about a lack of continuity in care, lack of value for money and that patients will not have to be registered to use the service.

"Unregistered patients will pitch up to be seen," she said.

"An abused child could be taken from one (health centre) to another and no one would pick it up.

"There is no continuity and no thread and that is a scenario that no one has answered."

The centre, funded through a £250 million Government package to improve health services, will open from 8am to 8pm in Riverside Health Centre, James Street West.

Patients will not need to book an appointment to see medical staff.

Dr Thompson, a member of the Avon Local Medical Committee and elected representative for GPs in Bath and Bristol, is worried about collecting patients' records.

"It is a new concept and there is nothing that tells us how they are going to link up these cases and link these records to their GPs."

But Mike Bowden, programme director for NHS Bath and North East Somerset, said Dr Thompson's concern was unwarranted.

"Under the centre's new operating procedures, continuity of care will be at the heart of good service delivery so that health professionals can have a full picture of an individual's record at any one time.

"All patients will be asked to consent to records of their visit being passed back to their own GP practice. After patients have been treated at the centre an updated record will be sent to their own GP that day.

"All staff are highly trained and alert to child protection issues."

The Government wants GPs to offer extended hours to patients, with practices opening on Saturday mornings and some evenings.

In the Bath area 24 out of 27 practices offer longer opening hours, but one in Peasedown St John said patients could use the city health centre instead.

Wansdyke Labour MP Dan Norris said GPs at Hillcrest Surgery told him they were unable to give up their weekends to open.

"For many workers, including self-employed people or those paid by the hour, seeing a doctor during the working day can hit the pay packet hard," he said.

"When I've fed this information back to concerned residents they have been horrified to learn that, as they see it, the GPs seem to be putting their own convenience before that of the patients they are there to serve."

No one from the surgery was available for comment.

Mr Norris wants people can express their opinions at www.dannorris.org.uk/peasedown.