A radical shake-up of the NHS in England could affect its stability and long-term future, the British Medical Association (BMA) has warned.
The UK Government is planning to give GPs control of £80bn of the NHS budget, while removing managers and imposing cuts in a bid to save £15-20bn.
The BMA said that pitting the GPs against each other in a market-based system would create waste, bureaucracy and inefficiency, and a market-like approach to healthcare would shift the focus from quality to cost.
"We urge the government and NHS organisations to focus on those areas where they can truly eliminate waste and achieve genuine efficiency savings rather than adopt a slash-and-burn approach to health care," the association added in a statement to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.
