Doctors could quit NHS in protest at longer hours, says BMA

A mass exodus of GPs from the NHS is being considered by the British Medical Association as it steps up its campaign against the government's plan to impose extended surgery opening hours in England, internal documents have revealed.

The move, which could result in patients paying up to £25 for a short consultation, was among options drawn up by leading GPs who object to being made to offer evening and weekend appointments.

The health secretary, Alan Johnson, has threatened to cut the income of practices refusing to provide the extended hours. The BMA is preparing to ballot GPs next month on how to fight back.

A BMA briefing document leaked to Pulse, a doctors' website, said: "If the government intends to impose such major cuts on our funding, we may have to face the possibility of an exit strategy from the NHS entirely. This would be a huge step. All current income streams would be lost, and GPs would have to face a much more uncertain financial future.

"However, the cost to individual patients would not necessarily be huge. Total practice income divided by consultations equates to about £20-25 per consultation." The proposal - one of several options including boycotting the choose and book system for hospital appointments - has already been advanced in BMA presentations to members.

The text attached to a slideshow for GPs said: "There would ... be huge political impact from such a move. The government would seek to portray us as the wreckers of the NHS. We would have to work hard to show that we had been left with no choice.

"This could potentially have catastrophic or terminal effects on the government. However ... the profession would escape from constant political interference and the setting of politically-motivated targets."

A mass resignation of GPs from the NHS - similar to the exodus of dentists who moved into private practice in the 1990s - would be a potent threat "because the government does not yet have sufficient manpower to replace GPs, were they to resign en masse," the document suggested.

Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA's GPs committee, said last night that the association was not asking GPs to leave the NHS "but advising GPs of the consequences of leaving the NHS".

The health minister, Ben Bradshaw, said the BMA's approach was sensationalist. He said a survey yesterday from the consumer organisation Which?, showed patients' top priority was getting easier access to a GP, including appointments during evenings and weekends.

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