Dear Dr Hammond,

I am writing to you early this week as we are about to announce the results of our latest survey on the Health and Social Care Bill. I’d like to again thank the very many of you who took the time to respond; you have no idea how much this has helped me to determine how the College moves forward, as well as providing me with personal assurance that we are doing to right thing for our patients and our profession. We received more than 2,500 replies, and nearly three quarters of you who responded said that you felt that it is now appropriate to seek the withdrawal of the Health and Social Care Bill.

When asked if the College should call for the Bill to be withdrawn as part of a joint approach with other medical royal colleges, more than 98% of you strongly supported or supported such action. Even without a joint approach, more than 90% of you still said that you either strongly supported or supported the College in proceeding alone in calling for the Bill’s withdrawal. I expected a good return, but I am staggered at the level of response.

The results are very revealing, but we must look before we leap, which is why I have written again to the Secretary of State and given him another opportunity to meet with us, inviting him to suggests ways in which we can move forward. Ultimately, should the situation warrant it, we will call for the withdrawal of the Bill itself, but I really hope that these survey results will prompt some positive action, and tangible change to the Bill as it progresses to the Report Stage in the House of Lords. The three areas which remain of key importance – and which the responses to the survey reiterated are: The Secretary of State’s existing duty to provide, or secure the provision of, a comprehensive health service throughout England, must be retained Clarification on the face of the Bill that commissioners will not be required to open up services to competition unless it can be demonstrated that this would be in the patient’s best interests and compatible with the requirements of patient safety and the ability to provide integrated care

The introduction of further safeguards on education and training, including robust mechanisms to ensure the provision of sufficient post graduate training places, and the long term retention of post graduate deaneries But let me be clear. We are not a trade union. This is not about political point-scoring. It is about protecting the principles of the NHS for our patients now and in the future. I will of course keep you informed as things unfold. Other news this week in brief. You may have seen my comments responding to the second phase report from the independent NHS Future Forum. While it does concern me that questions about patients’ lifestyle choices are being proposed as part of every consultation, we did a fulsome response to the report in which we welcomed many of the recommendations. It contains some excellent proposals for strengthening the role of the GP within the NHS, and I am particularly delighted to see the emphasis on extended training.

Getting more GPs, who are trained for longer, and spending more time with their patients through longer consultations, are our priorities and it is reassuring to see them gaining wider support. Its really good to see Steve Field continuing to lead the Forum. The Forum is increasingly becoming a driving force for Government policy making, so it can only be to our benefit to have a former Chair of Council, and practising GP, at its helm, particularly as we progress with our bid for extended training.

 Best wishes,

Clare Gerada, Chair RCGP