Watson Esam | News | Revalidation for GP's

The battle over revalidation for GPs has been hotting up recently.

The consultation period from 1 March to 4 June has seen a continuation of frenetic lobbying by GPs wanting to have their say on the proposals.  The pace had partly been dictated by the prospect of a change in government following the general election.

Whilst the BMA has been broadly supportive of revalidation in principle, it had been voicing a number of concerns as to both the substance of it and the methodology of its proposed implementation.  It fired a broadside on 28 May, stating that the BMA would not support the current plans, which is the polite way of saying that it opposed them and would refuse to cooperate.

The government was undoubtedly aware of what was coming because it has been quick to head off a full scale revolt by GPs with Andrew Lansley, the new Secretary of State, announcing on 2 June that implementation would be postponed pending further pilot schemes.  The government’s response also confirms that a full cost-benefit analysis will be carried out.

Criticisms of likely costs had already been made, so the new government had a readymade excuse to take evasive action.  It also enables the whole issue to be shelved on grounds of cost at a later date.

With the new government being quick to take the initiative, the game of passing the buck already seems over.  The government has at a stroke both made friends (for the time being) with the BMA and also distanced itself from the unpopularity of the last government.

However, this has been followed swiftly by a leak of the government’s intention to sweep away the GMS and PMS contracts.  This is no real surprise since it has been Conservative policy for sometime to renegotiate the contracts.

The government is doing its best to fill the post-election vacuum and set the agenda.  It is also choosing carefully which battles to fight.  Sacrificing revalidation may be the trade off for GPs in being forced to abandon the PMS and GMS contracts in their present form.  There is plenty of manoeuvring for all parties yet.

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