The Govt has always had control via DoH and SoH.
That's generally what the Govt does with the NHS. The Coalition is still blaming Labour for the past rather than acting and making changes.
GPs generally did not want CCGs to happen. The problem is that unless they engaged, they would have absolutely no control whereas they can at least be involved in damage-limitation. The CCG is made up of a group of people of which no more than half are doctors. That means that a new life-saving/improving treatment that doctors want can be refused by the majority who are non-GPs and it's still GPs who get the blame.
That's because the Govt wanted to "encourage competition" within the NHS. As an example, audiometry (hearing tests) was something that hospitals did. Now companies can "bid" for it and the CCG can't preferentially choose the NHS hospital as it's "anti-competitive" or some such bollocks.
Thereby removing blame from the Govt when something goes wrong.
That has become evident in the way in which the GP surgery now gets income. In the past, it was all straight from the PCT as a single payment. Now we get payment for minor surgery from one place, core work from another, family planning from another. It basically means we end up having to chase and make sure we're being paid and that we're being paid correctly.
Funny how the Govt wants to make £20bn in efficiency savings.
