BMA chairman warns government of disaffection. (British Medical Association's Dr. Jeremy Lee-Potter unhappy with National Health Service reforms)

The NHS reforms are "causing widespread disaffection among those who deliver the service," warned Dr Jeremy Lee-Potter, the chairman of the BMA's council, at the start of the BMA's annual meeting in Torquay this week. The BMA had, he said, repeatedly pointed out that the reforms should be piloted and that without sufficient funding problems would occur.

Compared with other countries Britain was running its health service on the cheap. How could the government allow the NHS to grind to a halt every winter when the money ran out? Imagine if the Royal Mail accepted only letters and not parcels for four months every year, Dr Lee-Potter said. The NHS was falling away …