The UK government has insisted that reconfigured primary care trusts (PCTs) will be free to continue to provide as well as to commission a range of services under its latest reforms. The announcement is part of its response, published last week, to a scathing health select committee report that attacked the reforms as “ill judged” and the policy of contracting out provider services as “incoherent” (BMJ 2006;332:72, 14 Jan).

Ministers originally said that the PCTs would have to shed all provided services, such as district nursing and family planning, and concentrate solely on commissioning. They later softened this line, saying trusts could …