THE doctor from York leading a campaign against the Government’s sweeping NHS reforms has welcomed the latest concessions from Prime Minister David Cameron.

James Chan, a junior doctor at York Hospital and one of the organisers of the Save Our NHS York campaign, said he was pleased to hear the government was listening at last.

In a speech this week, the Prime Minister appeared to offer a number of concessions, following a pause in the pace of the controversial reforms.

As well as handing more spending responsibility to hospital doctors and nurses, Mr Cameron agreed that the role of the regulatory body Monitor would be to promote integration between services, rather than solely promoting competition.

The Prime Minister also said there would be no increase in waiting times for patients and promised the NHS would never be transformed in to a private American-style service.

“From what I can see they have listened somewhat but they haven’t listened completely,” said Dr Chan. “We could have avoided all this if they had listened at the start of everything.

“But he still hasn’t ruled out the use of private providers. Look at what’s happened in care homes where the private sector is brought in. It’s an example of having too many players on one playing field and it can lead to a fragmentation of services.”

Dr Chan also said he was glad to see Mr Cameron wanted to give hospital doctors and nurses more of a say on spending NHS budgets, but also asked why there was a need for such changers at all.”