GP Consortia under the term of “pathfinders” are already being encouraged by Andrew Lansley. Weeks seem to change the thinking of the Secretary of State despite writing to GPs in September stating that there was no rush to form consortia; he changed his tune in a speech to the National Association of Primary Care Conference (NAPC) less than a month later. Andrew Lansley was Shadow DoH Secretary for many years and had drawn up a plan to devolve budgets to GPs ahead of the election, local accountability and local authority involvement are Liberal Democratic plans mixed into the coalition soup of ideas.

NAPC is an organisation epitomised by taking forward the agenda of GP Commissioning and full of members that relish this opportunity. This enthusiasm is not shared by GPs in my area where only 19% bothered to reply to an LMC questionnaire on thoughts about consortia size. These consortia even in shadow form will bleed the best from PCTs at the earliest opportunity.

We have seen in dentistry since 2006, how enthusiasts for tendering have transformed the delivery of new service, some might say for the worse. The process has deterred many of the traditional providers and these lessons should not be forgotten as we enter an even more commercial NHS.

So what is the best way to preserve a workforce that can make decisions about dentistry and help preserve the dental budget from attack after the supposed “ring-fence” is lifted at the end of March 2011? What was clear from the meeting I attended was the desire of the PCTs to work collectively in a “cluster” to preserve a work force at least knowing what a UDA and HTM 01 05 is.

Unless there is some collective work with the profession locally and nationally, we have the recipe for a disaster that will make 2006 look well planned. The clock is ticking on change and we must be prepared.
Eddie Crouch
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