RCGP calls for Health Bill to be scrapped

The Royal College of GPs has written to the Prime Minister to demand the complete withdrawal of the Health Bill.

The College, which represents more than 34,000 GPs in England, warned of its fears that the Bill ‘will cause irreparable damage to patient care and jeopardise the NHS’.

The RCGP said three-quarters of respondents to a recent poll said they wished to see the bill withdrawn.

RCGP Chair Dr Clare Gerada said: "This decision was not taken lightly, but it is clear that the College has been left with no alternative.

"We have taken every opportunity to negotiate changes for the good of our patients and for the continued stability of the NHS, yet while the Government has claimed that it has made widespread concessions, our view is that the amendments have created greater confusion.

"We remain unconvinced that the bill will improve the care and services we provide to our patients."

She called for a consolidation of the current organisational structure, so that PCT clusters remain, with GP-led boards and a greater role for GPs in commissioning.

Dr Gerada continued: “We must raise our concerns in the hope that the Prime Minister will halt this damaging, unnecessary and expensive reorganisation which, in our view, risks leaving the poorest and most vulnerable in society to bear the brunt.

“We will continue to do everything we can, both as a College and in partnership with our colleagues in the Academy of Royal Colleges, our nursing colleagues and across the wider health and social care sectors, to bring about change for the good of our patients and preserve the principles of the NHS that has served millions of patients so well for over 60 years – a universal healthcare service, free at the point of need.”

In response, Health Minister Simon Burns called the RCGP’s opposition ‘baffling’.