MORE than 200 NHS administrators employed by North Yorkshire and York are likely to lose their jobs in the next two years under the Government’s health reforms, a leading GP has warned.

Acomb GP Dr Brian McGregor, who is vice-chair of the local medical committee, the statutory body elected to represent family doctors, said a third of the 460 administrative and commissioning staff at the primary care trust (PCT) would be gone within a year.

According to budget savings targets imposed on the PCT by central government, that will rise to 45 per cent in two years, Dr McGregor said – meaning more than 200 local health managers face losing their jobs.

He said morale was very low at the health commissioning authority, which replaced the North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust, but which is itself to be phased out under the Government’s health reforms.

“I have spoken to a few of them. One of the comments made to me was that everybody is looking around, thinking ‘one third of us won’t be here next year’.

“Everybody is looking around, wondering who that one third will be.”

Under the reforms announced by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, PCTs such as NHS North Yorkshire and York, which commission local health care, manage local health budgets and decide local health priorities, will be abolished and replaced by consortia of local GPs. These will essentially be doctor-led mini local health authorities, Dr McGregor said.

The change would ultimately be good for patients, he said. The GP consortia would be clinically driven, not manager-driven. “There will be less talk, more action. And patients will be more involved in decisions about their care.”

But he admitted the sheer speed with which the change was happening could mean the NHS losing many good managers with valuable experience. “That’s the biggest threat to the NHS at the moment. There are some excellent managers with a wealth of knowledge at the primary care trust. My worry is that they will see the writing on the wall. I fear that we will lose some very good individuals to private industry.”

With so many administrators at the PCT fearing for their jobs, it was inevitable their performance would be affected over the next couple of years, he added. They would be more busy than ever as they prepared the health service for huge change, and for GP consortia to take over commissioning of local services.

But with everybody looking over their shoulders wondering whether they would even have a job in a year’s time, he said, it “does mean they cannot focus in the same way”.

Jayne Brown, chief executive of NHS North Yorkshire and York, said: “The announcement that PCTs are to be abolished is of course of great concern to our hard-working and committed staff. The chairman, the chair of the clinical executive and I have written to all staff thanking them for their work and offering them the opportunity to contact us direct with their queries. I have also put in place a schedule of regular face-to-face briefings in order to keep staff informed.

“As an organisation we have an important role to play in the next couple of years. We will continue our work with GP colleagues and local authorities to implement the changes required in the White Paper and ensure that the local community does not see a degradation of service provision as the new system becomes operational.”

Anne McIntosh, Conservative MP for Thirsk and Malton, described the PCT as “bloated bureaucracy”, and said the coalition Government was right in its plans for the NHS.

“I believe funds should follow front-line health care and not bloated bureaucracy,” she said.

“It’s a good time to see how, where there will always be limited resources, health services can be improved.

“I don’t believe unqualified people should be allowed to dictate which funds are allocated where.”