NHS: Time to get scared?

So, the big news from the government in their new proposal on how to shake-up healthcare is that they're going to be transferring power over much of the budget to GP's. I'm not too keen on the idea, though I'll admit its difficult at the moment to see what will happen here and all the details aren't clear yet.

There are a few reasons I'm worried. I understand that Lansley thinks the GP's will be able to better dish out the money according to patient needs but this was already tried before and very few GP's wanted to sign up to being in charge of budgets, and that was when the budgets were much smaller and for a much more limited number of services. If GP's aren't up to the challenge of handling the budget, which is understandable considering their first priority should be to their patients, then private business could find a niche in the NHS. In the words of one London GP:

"So we're going to have to buy in commissioning support from private companies. My fear is that the government has a hidden agenda - to allow private companies to buy out GP practices."

I hope that is't the case, but any private involvement in the NHS is generally a very bad thing indeed.I've said it plenty of times before and I'll say it again, market forces have no place in a civilised healthcare system. Companies out to make a profit can't be trusted with our health.

Of course, if it turns out that this does work then I'll be pleased but there's definitely things that need to be worked out before I'll feel confident that this isn't just the Tory's latest attempt to destroy their old foe.