Interesting link Firstmate. I think this comment below it hit the nail on the head: 'Be very, very wary about the agenda behind this report. We are being softened up to accept the most massive attack on our GPs there has ever been since the NHS first formed. I'm part of the Save Our Surgeries campaign in east London. Since the summer, we have been campaigning against cuts to the funding for GPs. The campaign started when it became clear that cuts to one funding stream alone would force 98 practices in England - 22 of them in three east London boroughs - to close. For those that don't close, the cuts mean cutting back to basic services, fewer staff and longer waits for appointments. We succeeded against the odds in getting NHS England to move on this and an emergency fund has saved 16 practices - for now. But this is a token gesture to shut us up. GPs are on one of three contracts. We are certain that as well as the immediate cuts to GMS contracts that we have campaigned on so far, GPs on PMS contracts will be facing absolutely massive cuts from next year - to be announced, no doubt, once the elections are over. And we are already seeing cuts the surgeries on APMS contracts in Tower Hamlets & Waltham Forest - despite the fact that these business contracts, designed for chains of surgeries staffed by salaried GPs are supposedly the preferred model for NHS England. There are two major problems causing long appointment waits. The first is a chronic shortage of GPs - they haven't been able to persuade enough young doctors to train for general practice for years now. The second is funding. With some practices facing budget cuts of up to 40%, this is a situation that is not going to change any time soon. The real agenda here is that NHS England actively want a very large number of GP surgeries to fail, so that they can replace the family doctor model, where GPs get to run their bit of the NHS with genuinely clinical-need-led autonomy, with a fully privatised model, where surgeries are owned by companies and the doctors are just salaried employees. Some of these might be owned by groups of business-minded GPs, but the majority will end up in the hands of UnitedHeath and Care UK. If anyone wants to know what that could mean, I recommend googling to find out what happened when UnitedHealth took over five practices In Camden (sorry, don't have the link to hand). Basically, when they failed to make enough profit, they sold on the contract within five years to another healthcare company - without telling staff, doctors or health officials. And this was after running down the services to cut costs. The second healthcare company, looking at similar figures, found a spurious reason to close one of the practices altogether. Camden's primary care commissioners were absolutely furious - but powerless to do a thing. So please, please look at all these negative stories on the NHS and ask yourself 'what else could be going on here', because this government knows perfectly well that it is losing the argument on the NHS, because people can see for themselves what a disaster the last four years have really been.'