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Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the BMA's General Practitioners Committee commenting on the Government's paper on Practice Based Commissioning published today (Wed 06/10/04) said:

"These are interesting and potentially very far reaching proposals and the GPC will wish to consider them carefully before making a detailed response. We welcome the fact that there will be a right for all practices to have an indicative budget and that Primary Care Trusts must work with practices to help them develop procedures for implementing this.

"There are concerns about the absence of clear national guidelines and because of this we will want to issue detailed guidance to practices and Local Medical Committees as to how they should take this initiative forward.

"If it is to be successful, this scheme must ensure both equity of access and quality of service for all patients and fair rewards for the practices that will take responsibility for managing these complex processes."

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