A leading GP has attacked moves to force doctors to take regular competence tests as part of a plan to control and manage family doctors .

Birmingham GP Dr Charles Zuckerman said: If we are looking at not just revalidation but the wider agenda, the main thrust of government policy is control of not just GPs but the whole NHS.

Dr Zuckerman also hit out at the two leading bodies in general practice which sent out the draft proposals for a scheme of regular checks on family doctors fitness to practice last week.

The document from the British Medical Association and the Royal College of General Practitioners follows the unveiling last November of chief medical officer Professor Liam Donaldsons own proposals for tackling poorly performing doctors.

But NHS Confederation policy manager Alastair Henderson said: It is difficult to start assessing revalidation as being part of a centralising tendency. It does fit in with wider government policy, which is a good thing, not a bad thing.

The BMA and RCGP acted in response to the General Medical Councils proposal for all doctors to face regular revalidation. The latest plans say unacceptable GPs fail to use medical records for information and show little evidence of a coherent or rational approach to diagnosis.

But BMA GP committee chair Dr John Chisholm said one of the crucial questions was who would pay for the scheme.