BMA rejects government proposals for longer hours for GPs

doi:10.1136/bmj.39437.635579.DB

BMJ 2008;336:14 (5 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.39437.635579.DB

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BMA rejects government proposals for longer hours for GPs

Lynn Eaton

¹ London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

GPs’ leaders have found themselves fighting back overplans—stemming from 10 Downing Street—to force generalpractices to open for longer. The government said just beforeChristmas that it intended to impose a contract on GPs thatcould mean that practices that don’t comply will loseas much as £36 000 ( ${euro}$ 49 000; $72 000) a year.

The BMA leaders argue that the proposals don’t reflectwhat most patients want and that doctors will be too tired toprovide a good service.

At a briefing just before Christmas, Laurence Buckman, chairmanof the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee, told journaliststhat the government had "effectively put a gun to our head."

He said, "We are being bullied so that the prime minister cantick a box next to a politically driven target without regardfor the damage this could do in the long term to patient servicesin primary care."

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