In an article published in the BMJ on Wednesday, Cambridgeshire GP Dr Peter Bailey asked health secretary Andrew Lansley to ‘Get rid of the Bill’.

The former CCG vice chairman said that he had initially been enthusiastic about the NHS reforms. However once he fully understood the implications of the bill his enthusiasm dwindled.

‘PCTs were to be abolished and pathways were to become illegal, sacrificed to 'any willing provider' who would trample across them, waving competition legislation on behalf of their shareholders,’ Dr Bailey said.

Dr Bailey said that GPs had been ‘set up’ by the Bill and were by being asked to make savings without the necessary time or skills.

After realising the Bill’s true implications, Dr Bailey said that he met with Mr Lansely, NHS chief executive of the NHS David Nicholson and prime minister David Cameron to tell them that the plans were unworkable.

He also called for his CCG to withdraw from pathfinder status, but his requests ‘fell on deaf ears’.

Dr Bailey said: Our early enthusiasm for protecting the fundamental ethos and values of the NHS led us into collusion with the Bill. By the time the professions really understood the Bill much of the damage was already done.

'Now we stand baffled in the wreckage like a householder who has recklessly allowed his plausible but incompetent builder to bash out a load bearing wall to improve the view but instead has brought the whole edifice to the point of collapse.

'Let us put down the sledgehammer, get rid of the Bill, and bring in a structural engineer to stabilise our finest institution.'