Shadow health secretary Dr Liam Fox is to set up four policy review groups for mental health, long-term care, primary care and medical ethics.

Alan Franey, former chief executive of Broadmoor Special Hospital and a Conservative Party member, has been appointed chair of the mental health group. 'We are very keen to be working with Liam Fox but we will be doing this in the interests of the country, not the Conservative Party, ' he told HSJ .

Dr Fox refused to confirm membership of the groups. He said policy developments in primary care were unlikely to include a return to fundholding.

'There will be no reorganisation. I think it is a pity we have lost a lot of the benefits of fundholding and I am looking currently at how we get back to some of them by rebalancing a system we might inherit.'

He added: 'I think we need to move from a one-size fits all structure in primary care.'