The government’s planned reforms will “throw down the gauntlet to clinicians and give them their head to produce significant change”, according to the coalition-appointed chair of the Social Care Funding Commission.

Writing for HSJ ahead of the publication of his new book on Labour’s NHS stewardship, Lord Norman Warner says: “GP consortia will need a lot of analytical and IT support to succeed and the mass of GPs will have to accept the leadership of their commissioning enthusiasts.

“But the decision seems to have been made for GPs. They are to become change agents as well as gatekeepers and will work in new configurations, with people with different skill sets. We shall have to wait and see how many can rise to the challenge.”

Read Lord Warner’s full opinion piece.

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