'Get real or suffer same fate as consultants'

Dr Tony Calland has told GPs who want a long delay to renegotiate the contract with the Government to 'get real'.

Dr Calland, contract negotiator and former chair of GPC Wales, said consultants and fire-fighters had tried to take on the Government in recent months and both groups had suffered.

He said: 'I think the message is to get real ­ live in the real world. In a negotiation we go along with a shopping list and so do the Government. I think on balance we have done very well.

'I have heard people saying we should be strong and vote No. But where are the consultants now? They have no national contract, and the firemen have got nowhere apart from losing public support.'

In a GP internet forum,

Dr Calland branded Dr Fay Wilson's and Dr Gillian Braunold's move to delay the ballot six months 'the most unhelpful political act I have seen in 30 years of medical politics'.