By Gareth Iacobucci
Health secretary Andrew Lansley has confirmed that the new coalition Government will push ahead with Tory plans to make GPs responsible for commissioning out-of-hours services.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Mr Lansley said a new GP contract would be negotiated in order to facilitate the changes.
But he ruled out a return to the old out-of-hours system where GPs had to be on call to provide 24-7 out-of-hours provision.
Instead, he said GPs in local groups or PBC clusters will either commission services, or provide them if they choose through co-ops.
‘GPs should be responsible. There will need to be a new contract to make this point,' said Mr Lansley.
out-of-hours
