Doctors say NHS reforms "will benefit most vulnerable"

41 GPs with a lead role in practices caring for over 7 million patients across the country have written to The Daily Telegraph supporting the Government's plans to modernise the NHS which "will benefit the most vulnerable in society".

The doctors are leading the plans which will bring together over 1,000 GP practices across England to give more power to doctors and nurses and improve care for patients.

It is important to listen to healthcare providers and patients so as to get the proposals right, which is why the government has called a pause in the proposals to listen to comments. But this is not some new plan which has come out of nowhere - in fact it the devolution of powers to GPs is a continuation of what was being developed in Cumbria for the last few years under the previous Labour government.

The doctors who wrote to the Telegraph confirmed that in their view the plans are an evolution of the previous Government's proposals, and welcomed the idea that instead of GPs having to report to bureaucrats, they will be able to take decisions in their patients' best interests.

Over 6,500 GP practices have already come together in pathfinder consortia covering over 45 million patients in England. That means that almost 90 per cent of the country is now covered by GPs who are best placed to deliver better care for patients. This has happened more than two years before the formal transfer of commissioning responsibility in April 2013.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said, "Under Labour, frontline doctors and nurses were undermined by a relentless focus on tick-box targets and constant Whitehall interference. We are changing all that by giving doctors and nurses the freedom to get on with their jobs and treat their patients."

And he added, "I welcome the appetite shown by doctors to lead improvements in the NHS and deliver better care for patients."

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