Having rushed out a health bill that no one wanted, even getting through a committee stage, it seems that the momentum has been lost. The political risk to the coalition government has become to high. This leaves GPs in a dilemma, in those areas where the changes have progressed especially. Do they continue to make the changes needed for the ‘new’ model? or can the ‘old’ model be reconstructed?
Of course this doesn’t really matter. General Practice and the NHS works best when working in an integrated fashion. Cooperation between practices to produce better primary care has always been possible and consortia are simply the new name for PBC, and PCGs. Without some of the proposed changes there may be less scope for direct involvement in managing the local health economy, but the indirect effect of GPs working together remains.
Salaried GPs, locum GPs and partners who want to be involved in local medical politics will get involved. Those who want to get on with their day to day practice will continue to receive new directions to work towards.
