Government, not BMA, to blame

doi:10.1136/bmj.39475.685694.BE

BMJ 2008;336:234 (2 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.39475.685694.BE

Letters

Increased GP surgery hours

Government, not BMA, to blame

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

I was an outspoken critic of the new General Medical Services(GMS) contract at the time but the BMA did not recommend votingfor the new contract in 2004: it put it to the profession asthe best that it could get, given the government’s position.Beerstecher (previous letter) forgets that the ability to stopdoing out of hours was a huge incentive to vote yes, perhapsoutweighing other considerations.¹

The option for unilateral change of terms and conditions hasbeen part of general practitioners’ contract since 1948,although I am sure it was not envisaged that it could be usedas a weapon of spite by a government that was not getting itsown way.

To say there was no agreement about the scope or purpose ofthe quality and outcomes framework is ludicrous. It was designedto stimulate better care and provide a performance related bonusfor the . . . [Full text of this article]

Trefor J Roscoe, general practitioner

¹ Sothall Medical Centre, Sheffield S20 5JX

Trefor@nhs.net