When it was suggested last week that the profession should lobby to repeal the current GMS contract, I thought it sounded a slightly crazy idea. A bit like the 1983 Labour Party manifesto which threatened to nationalise banks that didn't play ball.
But, of course, a week is a long time in medical politics, and now I'm thinking that maybe it would be better to start from a clean sheet. Professor Allyson Pollock made the suggestion - though it sounded more like a plea - at the RCGP conference in Bournemouth where Dr John Chisholm was also speaking. Dr Chisholm has kept a low profile since stepping down as chairman of the GPC, following his negotiation of the new GMS contract.
He told the conference that the contract had brought good and bad things to general practice - which is a shame because he had originally claimed that it would spark a ‘renaissance' in the profession.
Having said that, perhaps no one could have foreseen the smash-and-grab tactics of successive ministers since the contract was first agreed.
Any benefits for GPs were quickly clawed back, using both lawful and unlawful means. Those practices on PMS contracts have also been cast aside, having apparently served the government's purpose as a means of dividing the profession.
The quality framework stands out as probably the most successful element of the contract but even that is still a work in progress, open to abuse by politicians, and now likely to be smothered by NICE.
So repealing the GMS contract is probably not such a crazy idea after all. In fact, if you add up all the changes over the past year, then this contract has been well and truly torn up, stamped on, burnt down and spat upon. There is no need to repeal new GMS because it's already been done - by the government.