Conservatives throw spotlight on primary care

General practitioners in Britain will offer more ancillary services and be increasingly involved in commissioning secondary care under proposals announced by the secretary of state for health, Stephen Dorrell, in speeches at the Conservative party's conference last week. Although the media focused on his plans to cut NHS bureaucracy, what he had to say about the role of general practice—“the jewel in the crown of the NHS”—is likely to be the last instalment of the Conservatives' reforms of health care before the next general election.

The …