Press Release

RCGP response to Lord Darzi’s Next Stage Review

30 June 2008

Professor Steve Field, RCGP Chairman, said:

"The Royal College of General Practitioners is committed to promoting high-quality patient-centred care based on a partnership between patients and clinicians. Therefore we welcome the Next Stage Review's ambitious focus on quality in primary care and right across the NHS.

"The recognition - based on evidence - of the central role of the GP and in supporting GPs so that we can lead the changes is most welcome. We also welcome the commitment to review the length of GP training so that we can deliver the RCGP Training Curriculum and produce the highly trained GPs needed to deliver Lord Darzi's ambitious agenda

"The overarching review and its primary and community care strategy rightly moves the focus of the NHS towards helping people keep healthy and preventing disease whilst also re-emphasising the need to move care closer to the patient.

"While supporting the direction of travel set out by Lord Darzi nationally, we are concerned that local PCT management might not be able to deliver. The lack of engagement with the RCGP and other professional bodies at SHA and PCT level during the initial phase of the Darzi Review was disappointing. We look to the Department of Health to ensure that local NHS managers engage with professional bodies, patients and the wider public to ensure successful implementation.

"This is an opportunity not to be lost and if implemented successfully, the review should do much to improve the health of the population in England."