The medical profession should 'stop whinging', the DoH's national clinical director for primary care Dr David Colin-Thomé has said.

Whilst Dr COlin-Thome is the proverbial poacher turned gamekeeper, on this occasion he has got it right. General practice is under threat, but instead of acting proactively, many GPs are simply acting like young children and stamping their feet. There is a case to answer in regard to the way that the Govt have introduced the changes, similarly there is a case for the BMA to fight, but looking from the sidelines the Govt have approached this badly and the BMA have charged off on their poster dampaign without a clue to the opinion of the general public. Look at all those who at the moment are losing their jobs, priovate pension funds decimated by greedy bankers, al investment planning in ruins and a house which is in negative equity. Feel sorry for GP's and their staff \(I'm a practice manager) not likely, relatively sound employment, good final salary pension \(for us anyway): to many we simply look like the cat that has got the cream and can't stop moaning about it. Yes times are not good, but take a look around and the majority are much worse off. Save your posters and surveys BMA, you are starting to look at best inept and at worst just stupid.

Perhaps if he worked as a full time GP in 2008 he might have a different view, and would certainly be more in touch with patients and what's going on.

It does not take long to change one's tune. Now that Dr. Colin-Thome has retired from General Practice in 2007 and is the DoH's hatchet-job man running the Primary care, he is expected to sing their tune to keep earning his cream. Just because the Financial world is doing badly and people are falling around us like flies, it does not mean GPs should be wearing rags and proclaim- Wow! how lucky we are to have a roof over our heads! GPs have always worked very hard and delegated little, unlike the bad lending decisions made by a pompous few who delegated work and lapped up the cream while the going was good. The DoH could have handled changes to General Practice much better and they know it. If this is the beginning of another round of bashing from a moral high-ground, with the gun on Dr. Colin-Thome's back, save your breath and concentrate on doing your job properly in the first place.

Getting a peerage is an uphill struggle good luck to him

so he thinks a gp's lot is a happy one eh ? then why did he jump ship ? someone much cleverer than me commented that the sound of a wind turbine was much nicer when you owned part of it !!

Up to a point I agree that GPs are their worst enemy in that they do not take action to counteract the crazy initiatives taken by this government e.g. many have caved in and are providing extended hours in accordance with the prescriptive DES despite the fact that it is possibly costing them a lot of money and while it may appeal to the 'significant minority' it is detrimental to the majority of patients.

The plight of many people in this country at present is totally irrevelant. The fact is that many of the initiatives introduced are not in the interests of the majority of patients and are a wasteful use of valuable NHS funds. It's time that the senior managers in the DoH and at SHAs and PCTs joined with the BMA to speak up against these initiatives and told the politicians to leave the running of the NHS to those on the front line who know how General Practice works. I presume that the reason they don't is because the elimination of all the bureaucracy would mean a dramatic reduction in the number of administrative managerial jobs which have been created. 

I, too, am a Practice Manager