Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, has said that the reforms to the NHS are highly likely to be delayed with GP consortiums only taking on the role of commissioning when they are ready rather than by the April 2013 deadline set out in the health bill, published in January (BMJ 2011;342:d418 doi:10.1136/bmj.d418).

In a speech to patients and staff at University College London Hospital on 26 May Mr Clegg said, “Change won’t happen overnight and arbitrary deadlines are no good to anyone. So yes, family doctors should be more involved in the way the NHS works. But they should only take on that responsibility when they are ready and willing, working with other medical professionals too.”

After the speech, he added that the changes sought were such as to require the bill to be re-examined in committee. It has already passed the committee stage …