Back off PCTs, say doctors

Released 22/07/2010

Top down pressures “getting in the way” of change

Top down pressures from PCTs are already stoking resentment says a Family Doctor Association spokesman.

Dr Michael Taylor of the FDA has suggested there is evidence accumulating to suggest that PCTs are responding to the Government's White Paper issued last Monday by organising top-down approaches to GP commissioning groups.

In a letter to chief executives dated 13 July, head of the NHS in England, Sir David Nicholson, highlighted the importance of subsidiary. "Things should be done at the right level. Where necessary, the centre will play an enabling role, but wherever possible, the details of implementation will be determined locally by patients and clinicians," he wrote.

Taylor said: "It has only been a week since the publication of the White Paper, ‘Liberating the NHS', and already there are worrying signs of PCTs encouraging GP apathy and stoking up resentment. We are most concerned and are therefore conducting an urgent survey of our membership."

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