Dr Maureen Baker, RCGP chair
Hope: To start to reverse consecutive years’ underfunding in general practice
Fear: That doesn’t happen. Continued decline would be a disaster
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, GPC chair
Hope: The new contract will be first step in a new trajectory of restoring trust and investment in GPs’ professionalism - instead of suffocating bureaucracy and targets
Fear: Ongoing political change thwarts this direction of travel and bureaucracy and performance management contaminate the positives
Dr Mike Ingram, GPC member and a GP in Radlett, Hertfordshire
Hope: More time for the patient
Fear: Further erosion of the workforce making everything else - CQC inspections, extended opening etc - even more difficult
Dr Alan McDevitt, Scottish GPC chair
Hope: GPs throughout the UK will be more valued for the work they do for patients
Fear: That traditional family oriented medicine is broken apart by a market-driven ideology
Dr Michelle Drage, Londonwide LMCs chief executive
Hope: Stars are aligning for general practice in a pre-election year
Fear: Ratings on every practice front door
Dr Nigel Watson, Wessex LMCs chief executive
Hope: We’ve reached the bottom of the downward spiral of workload and despair
Fear: NHS bureaucracy puts barriers in the way of GPs reinvigorating services
Dr Charles Alessi, NAPC chair
Hope: The system will change and embrace the personalisation of care that´s needed
Fear: Big party politics will stop that from happening
Dr Charlotte Jones, GPC Wales chair
Hope: That GPs will see the benefits of the contract changes we´re working on
Fear: That nothing will be done to address the GP workforce crisis
Dr Robert Morley, Birmingham LMC executive secretary
Hope: That changes agreed in the new contract have a significant impact on reducing uneccesary workload and that practices can concentrate on patients
Fear: Smaller practices may become unviable because of the scale of problems they face
Dr Michael Dixon, NHS Alliance chair
Hope: That we’ll reverse the resourcing thats gone into secondary care and that 2014 will be the year of Government putting its money where its mouth is and changing mechanisms such as PbR to resource primary care properly
Fear: My real fear is that general practice turns its back on the opportunity because of existing workload. If we don’t grasp it we could wither on the vine and all would take would be a future Government to allow the sale of goodwill and we’ll all end up working for Tescos
