Exclusive Government amendments to the health bill will not prevent large disparities in the provision of care emerging across the country, say legal experts.

The GP behind a petition to have the health bill scrapped has urged the BMA and RCGP to encourage their members to sign it.

David Cameron has rallied round embattled health secretary Andrew Lansley at Prime Minister’s Questions and launched a staunch defence of the health bill,citing the fact that 95% of GPs are involved in ‘implementing’ the NHS reforms as evidence of the profession’s support.

Scrapping the health bill would save the Government over £1bn in 2013 and give the NHS the stability to make improvements in ‘efficiency and productivity’, according to an health policy expert.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley is set to agree to a series of amendments to the health and social care bill including the stipulation that GPs must commission to limit controversial rationing measures, according to reports.

Stephen Fry has become the latest high profile opponent to the health bill, after he urged his 3.8m Twitter followers to sign a leading GP’s petition to have the bill scrapped.

The ‘Doncaster GP’ hailed by David Cameron as a champion of the health bill who was used to accuse Labour leader Ed Miliband of being ‘out of touch’ with GP views on the health bill, is no longer involved in the area’s CCG and has relocated.

MPs have delivered a bruising ‘wake-up call' to ministers, with a report concluding that the move to GP-led commissioning was undermining targets to cut NHS spending by £20 billion by 2014/15. Related...

The BMA is organising a summit this week to discuss 'shared concerns and priorities' on the health bill with all the medical Royal colleges, in a move that will pile additional pressure on ministers during a difficult week for their NHS reforms.

NHS Alliance chief Dr Michael Dixon has called on the Government to ‘put its full weight’ behind GP commissioning to prevent the policy being a failure.

Two doctors have completed the last leg of a 160-mile run from Cardiff to London to highlight opposition to the Government’s proposed NHS reforms, even though one needed treatment for a knee injury.

The Department of Health has indicated GP deaneries could be retained in a similar form after SHAs are abolished, and accepted an NHS Future Forum recommendation for clinicians to be given ‘a greater say' in how their functions are handled.

Exclusive A flagship clinical commissioning group (CCG) which includes the practice of the Department of Health’s national clinical commissioning lead has been ‘red-rated’ by its strategic health authority and told to merge with its neighbours in order to gain authorisation.

RCGP members have overwhelmingly backed moves for the Health and Social Care Bill to be scrapped, with morethan 98% of respondents to a new poll calling on the College to seek the withdrawal of the bill alongside other Royal colleges.

Manchester United and England footballer Rio Ferdinand has lent his backing to a prominent GP’s petition to get the health bill scrapped.

A BMA Council member has begun a 160-mile run from Cardiff to London to protest against the Government's health reforms.

RCGP chair Dr Clare Gerada has warned GP commissioning leaders will jeopardise patient care if they set up groups which are too small, after clinical commissioning groups vowed to snub calls to merge to cover at least a million patients.

Exclusive Four in ten clinical commissioning groups across England have begun to enlist commissioning support from the private sector and have already signed a series of deals with external firms, a Pulse investigation has found.

The GMS contract is set to be overhauled to incentivise GPs to provide integrated care, the Department of Health has revealed.

The RCGP has launched another survey of its members to test the water on whether to call for the Health and Social Care Bill to be withdrawn, in what its chair Dr Clare Gerada called a ‘critical moment’ for the College and general practice.

GP commissioners will be required to advertise all contracts worth more than €500,000 in the Official Journal of the European Union under proposed revisions to EU procurement rules.

Smaller commissioning groups can function just as well as larger ones, with deprivation a more powerful factor in determining performance, concludes a new study.

The Department of Health is making ‘no apologies’ as it forces NHS non-executive directors to resign earlier than planned, in a move that managers warn will destabilise the transition to clinical commissioning groups.

The BMA has launched a Christmas campaign against the health bill, with a satirical cartoon featuring Santa's Present Delivery Service undergoing ‘major reform’.

NHS managers are ‘bullying' clinical commissioning groups by imposing authorisation deadlines against GPs' will, muscling in on CCG recruitment processes and dictating Any Qualified Provider terms, the GPC has warned.

The Labour Party has held a meeting of senior GPs and medical leaders to ask for their support for a ‘plan B’ for the NHS, to scrap the health bill and avoid mass upheaval to the health service.

GPs on commissioning group boards should be blocked from speaking to the press unless authorised to do so by the board, according to a draft constitution proposed by Londonwide LMCs.

The proportion of GP referrals to non-NHS hospitals via Choose and Book has hit a record high in 2011, with Department of Health figures revealing a continued transition of work to the private sector.

Professor Sir Bruce Keogh has been designated medical director of the NHS Commissioning Board.

Clinical commissioning groups should appoint GPs to at least one of their senior leadership positions to avoid simply re-creating existing PCTs, health secretary Andrew Lansley has declared.

Future Forum chair Professor Steve Field has launched a stinging attack on the quality of general practice in the UK, claiming the NHS has ‘lost the plot’ on primary care provision.

Excluding the leaders of clinical commissioning groups from major decisions about how the new bodies are set up and run will have 'terrible consequences' for patient care, NHS Alliance chair Dr Michael Dixon has warned.

Many clinical commissioning groups are being ‘coerced or bullied’ by NHS managers into structures that conflict with what is best for their local populations, finds a new survey.

GPs will be forced to ‘identify and correct’ anomalies in their practice lists by March 2013 as part of a DH bid to wipe 2.5 million ‘ghost patients’ from lists, a DH report has confirmed.

PCTs have been told they must erase all outstanding debts by 2013 – but any clinical commissioning groups of PCTs generating a surplus will have it hovered up by the NHS Commissioning Board.

Nearly half of PCT commissioning budgets have already been handed to clinical commissioning groups as the implementation of the Government’s NHS reforms gathers pace, the Department of Health has revealed.

Exclusive A series of pilots for the Government’s new flagship urgent care number 111 have been thrown into chaos after contracts were torn up at the last minute because PCT managers were found to have breached procurement regulations.

Health minister Simon Burns has accused opponents of the health bill as being ‘zombie-like’ for continuing to write to their MPs outlining concerns over the reforms, in an attack senior Lib Dems labelled as ‘insulting’ to voters.

A prominent GP has launched an online petition aimed at getting the Government to drop the Health and Social Care Bill.

Exclusive LMC secretaries and chief executives who also hold a role on the boards of clinical commissioning groups are standing down from one of their roles to sidestep an ‘unavoidable’ conflict of interest as CCGs move towards authorisation.

PCT clusters are to prioritise the tendering of podiatry, adult hearing services and diagnostic care on the open market under Any Qualified Provider (AQP), a Pulse investigation has revealed.

Exclusive Hundreds of salaried GPs employed by PCTs could face redundancy as trusts across England cut costs and prepare to be abolished, it was warned this week, after one trust announced it was axing all its salaried GP posts.

The Department of Health should permit GP commissioners to negotiate tariff ‘flexibilities’ to promote integrated care, the NHS Future Forum has said, in a set of recommendations to influence the 2012/13 NHS Operating Framework.

GP commissioners face an uphill struggle to identify at-risk patients after the Department of Health pulled funding for tools to help predict unplanned hospital admissions, the Nuffield Trust has warned.

A recent analysis showing the NHS is one of the best health services in the world undermines the Government’s argument for a massive reorganisation, the chair of Royal College of GPs has said.

Exclusive GP commissioners are set to impose a ‘referral ban’ on locums in a bid to drive down hospital referral rates, under controversial plans tabled by a clinical commissioning group.

Practices will have to join a clinical commissioning group as part of the new GP contract announced today.

Exclusive GP practices in some parts of the country are being placed under ‘special measures’ by their clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and required to justify every future referral decision.

GPs lack confidence in their local clinical commissioning group (CCG) to a handle on NHS budgets, and are concerned that its board members may be compromised by conflict of interest, a new survey reveals.

NAPC conference 2011 The relationship between GP practices and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) is fundamental to the success of the NHS reforms and should be allowed to develop free from external interference, Dr Johnny Marshall, chair of the National Association of Primary Care, has said.

A leading GP commissioner and member of the NHS Future Forum panel has warned that red tape is threatening to ‘paralyse’ clinical commissioning groups.

The BMA is asking peers to table a raft of detailed amendments to improve the health bill as it makes its way through the House of Lords, with a briefing paper published last week identifying 11 key areas it wants to see changed.

Financially failing hospital trusts will get additional Government support so that GP commissioners can ‘deliver care not manage provider debt’, the health secretary has said.

The Government does not plan to entirely abolish practice boundaries and may restrict patients to registering only with GPs covered by their local commissioning group, health secretary Andrew Lansley has said.

Exclusive A GP peer who led the Liberal Democrat revolt against the NHS reforms in the second chamber has conceded defeat over the health bill, which she claims is a 'nasty trick' against the public.

More than two thirds of GPs fear that their relationship with patients will be damaged by the NHS reforms, shows a BMA survey.

LMCs will be consulted on clinical commissioning groups’ (CCGs’) investigations of GPs’ performance in areas such as excessive prescribing, says health secretary Andrew Lansley.

The Government should stop using its ‘flawed’ listening exercise as a ‘political tool’ to drive through the health bill, a crossbench peer and member of the Future Forum has warned.

The Government has indicated that clinical senates set up to oversee GP commissioning decisions will sit within the NHS Commissioning Board, despite strong opposition from a wide range of GP representative bodies.

GPs have been passed over for the chairmanship of the NHS Commissioning Board by the health secretary after he named academic Professor Malcolm Grant as his preferred candidate.

GP and columnist Dr Phil Hammond launched a scathing attack on the Government's NHS reforms during a BBC programme, calling the health bill 'wonk' to health secretary Andrew Lansley's face.

Clinical commissioning groups representing several thousand GPs across London have signed a multi-million pound deal with private consultants handpicked by NHS bosses to help support the rollout of GP commissioning.

Peers have voted through the Health and Social Care Bill, establishing GP commissioning bodies and opening up the NHS to more competition.

GP turned MP Dr Sarah Wollaston has attacked the government for risking a GP training crisis and said the drinks and fast food industries have ‘too much influence’ on public health policy.

Four out of 10 GPs do not expect to be working to an NHS contract in 10 years’ time, strengthening fears of a ‘recruitment and retention crisis’.

Dr Sarah Wollaston, GP turned Conservative MP, has warned that the Government risks provoking a GP training crisis through its plans to get rid of deaneries when SHAs are scrapped.

New shadow health secretary Andy Burnham has offered to support clinical commissioning within existing PCT structures if the Government agrees to dump the health bill.

More than 70% of GPs think that the Health and Social Care Bill should be scrapped, according to a new RCGP poll.

Research indicating that competition in the NHS had raised quality and saved lives is ‘flawed’, a University of London report has claimed.

Exclusive Only one clinical commissioning group in 10 currently has a consultant sitting on their board, a Pulse investigation can reveal.

The BMA has written to peers calling on them to reject or ‘significantly amend’ the health bill, ahead of the legislation being debated in the Lords next week.

A ‘political fix’ has been done to ensure the Health and Social Care Bill passes through the House of Lords, crossbench peer and former NHS chief executive Lord Nigel Crisp has said.

Health secretary Andrew Lansley has issued a staunch defence of his NHS reforms, accusing critics of 'misrepresenting' the health bill and urging the devolved nations to follow England's lead.

Dr Kailash Chand OBE's petition to drop the health bill has now gained well over 100,000 signatures and could force a debate in Parliament on the subject. Here he asks: is this the right time for NHS reform?

The Government may be deaf to those it views as its enemies, but perhaps there is still hope it will listen to its few remaining friends.

Dr Mary Hawking looks at the myriad of questions over the management of GP IT systems in the new NHS.

The 'quality premium' contained in the health bill will put a huge strain on patients' trust in GPs, says Dr David Wrigley

The RCGP has written to Prime Minister David Cameron to formally call for the withdrawal of the Health and Social Care Bill. Read Clare Gerada's full statement

Look at images from Bevan's Run - six marathons in six days run by two oncologists, Dr Clive Peedell and Dr David Wilson