The government has indicated it is willing to make changes to its overhaul of the NHS Friday, June 10, 2011
GPs want 'more NHS concessions'
The government has indicated it is willing to make changes to its overhaul of the NHS GPs are not yet ready to back the government's NHS plans for England - despite the recent concessions.
Earlier this week David Cameron outlined a series of changes he was prepared to make to win over critics.
But British Medical Association leaders said they were still concerned about competition and warned an "overly bureaucratic system" could be created.
The warnings come as hundreds of GPs gather in London for the start of their annual two-day conference.
The meeting is taking place just two days after the prime minister set out a number of concessions he was planning to make.
Under Health Secretary Andrew Lansley's original plans a consortium of GPs would be given much more responsibility for spending the NHS budget in England, while greater competition with the private sector would be encouraged.
Dr Laurence Buckman British Medical Association“He [Mr Cameron] did not say he was stopping the enfored competition altogether”
It has been dubbed as the most radical overhaul of the National Health Service since its creation in the 1940s.
Mr Cameron has now indicated his willingness to include hospital doctors and nurses on the consortia alongside GPs and also says the NHS regulator will have a duty to promote co-operation as well as competition.
Nonetheless, a series of critical motions about the changes are still due to be debated on Thursday.
GPs attending the conference are expected to say they are still not convinced the plans are the best way forward for the health service.
Speaking ahead of the conference, Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA's GPs committee, said doctors were still exercised about a number of issues.
"He [Mr Cameron] did not say he was stopping the enforced competition altogether."
Dr Buckman's deputy, Dr Richard Vautrey, agreed.
He said there was a fear the changes to competition may actually end up amounting to little more than "window-dressing".
On the wider concessions, he said: "What they (GPs) are very worried about is the arrangements being put in place could get bogged down in an overly bureaucratic system."
And he added that in the end there could be a "lose-lose" situation whereby the plans were changed in such as way that no-one benefited.
But he said the union was likely to want to wait to see what amendments were made to the bill in Parliament - something not likely until the autumn - before giving its final verdict.
Before Mr Cameron's intervention this week the BMA had said the whole bill underpinning the changes may even need to be scrapped.
This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/health-13702147
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