Developments: Developing Primary Care Groups in the New NHS: Towards Diversity or Uniformity?

Abstract

This article examines how the Government's ‘third way’ is being implemented in relation to the involvement of primary care professionals in the commissioning of health services. Prior to 1997, the single preferred model of GP fundholding evolved into a diversity of approaches to commissioning and these approaches became increasingly collaborative rather than competitive. From this starting point, the authors examine the key assumptions underlying the present single model of the primary care group (PCG) as the commissioning body for the ‘New NHS’. They suggest that PCGs will also evolve into a diversity of models, but there will be tensions arising over the greater emphasis on central direction and performance management.