GP services are set for major negative changes after the next general election, irrespective of which party wins.
Taxpayers have no say in how the hundreds of billions of pounds of NHS budget is spent. Most GPs have already had 10% drops in income in recent years, at the same time as increasing workload, while our political masters are driven only by spin and soundbites. GPs will be squeezed hard on budgets and discredited through the introduction of fundholding by another new name.
If only very expensive but mostly avoidable duplications and waste could be contained or controlled, the NHS could operate wonderfully with much less than its £110bn budget.
We must open the NHS to the scrutiny of taxpayers and the media, and we must not close GP surgeries or hospitals. It's time for GPs to group together and speak loudly, clearly and resolutely – as family doctors and as patients' best advocates – about the dangers posed by politicians to GPs and to patient services.
Dr Vijay Bansal
Warrington
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