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GPs are at loggerheads over the speed and detail of implementing government plans to switch the NHS commissioning role from primary care trusts (PCTs) to GP consortia.

Long-time supporter of GP commissioning Dr Michael Dixon, chairman of the NHS Alliance, told a meeting this week* that PCTs should get their consortia 'up and running as soon as possible'.

The coalition government set out its ambition to abolish PCTs by 2013 in the NHS White Paper published 12 July.

Dr Dixon said: 'The new set up will work best where there are arrangements for strong partnerships between GP consortia and PCTs, which will be invaluable in terms of sharing their skills and expertise in how to cope with budgets, as well as statutory and other management responsibilities. Time is also of the essence. We need to get this off the ground as quickly as possible.'

His comments come after Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the general practitioners committee (GPC) of the BMA, urged GPs to take the transition process cautiously, ask for more detail on the White Paper plans and consider their next move before rushing into forming consortia.

In a letter to all GPs in England, he wrote: 'We know that in some areas, local managers are already trying to rush ahead with implementation of these proposals, before the consultation process has really started, far less been completed, and before we have even seen the detail of what GP consortia will be expected to do.

'No-one should base decisions on assumptions that have not been confirmed through such information, discussion and negotiation and this will take some time to accumulate. We would urge you to resist the temptation to agree any detail at the moment... There is a fairly long consultation period for the White Paper, ending at the beginning of October, and it is more than likely that some of these proposals will be modified during that period.'

He added: 'While this is clearly a potentially huge opportunity for GPs, we recognise that it could also be a major threat both to the current form of general practice and even to the NHS as a public service. We continue to believe that, wherever possible, GPs should ensure that NHS providers are the providers of choice.'

Meanwhile, a petition opposing the 'progressive, patchwork privatisation' of the NHS with 25,000 signatures was due to be delivered to Downing Street Friday 30 July as part of the keep our NHS public campaign.

*Dr Dixon was talking on Tuesday 27 July at the NHS Alliance/APEX North East practice-based commissioning (PBC) regional event attended by 180 potential GP commissioning leaders in the Northeast, including GPs, practice managers, PBC leads, cluster managers, local medical council members and PCT managers.

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