Dear Sir/Madam,
I am a GP. I am not a member of a political party. I work hard trying to provide a good service to our patients in Tower Hamlets.
I am grateful when policy makers come up with policies which support us in doing a good, sustainable job.
Unfortunately, in recent years this has not been the case. All too often, the politicians and DH have introduced policies and directives which make our job harder.
The Health and Social Care Bill is a prime example. It is difficult not to feel contempt for the political class and for Parliament. Politicians do not seem to understand how the various parts of the NHS work. They have misled each other to pass this Bill.
The NHS Competition regulations (SI 257) made under the Health & Social Care Act 2012 are a case in point. Assurances were made to CCGs (of which I am a member) that we would not be compelled to put out all services to competitive tendering, and now we see that these regulations contradict these assurances. This is an act of deception.
Please ensure that this is debated fully, preferably in both Houses.
Best wishes,
George
The Tredegar Practice
35 St Stephens Road
London
E3 5JD
One GP's Protest 
Have followed your blog (and attempts to get MPS to see the unintended – as well as intended – consequences of reforms) for some time now.
Your email is “spot on” but may I ask will you resign from the CCG on 1 April if SI 257 comes into force on that day? If not why not?
I am a member of the Tower Hamlets CCG in the sense that all primary care health professionals in Tower Hamlets are members of the CCG. That is how we see the CCG in Tower Hamlets. We also have a Board. I am not a member of the Board, though my wife is.
We did have a debate some months ago over whether we should pull out of the CCG process. The consensus was that if we pulled out some dreadful body would take our place and this would not serve the people of Tower Hamlets well. What we did do is to write to David Cameron to say that it was not true that the fact that we had signed up to the CCG meant that we approved of the process. We were the first of a very small number to take this public stance.
So I don’t think we are likely to resign from the process on 1 April. What I do think we should do is to be vocal in our opposition to misguided, dysfunctional, corrupt policies, and to continue to do the best we can for our population.