In the week that she took on leadership of the college, Dr Gerada said it was vital GPs stuck together. 'Those among my profession who are marching onwards and think they can within themselves reorganise general practice and have a top-down structure ... I suggest you think again,' she said.
Dr Gerada said to ensure the profession remains unified, all GPs, including young GPs and locums, need opportunities to take on leadership positions.
'Younger GPs are not being allowed to participate,' she said. 'If we do not tap into the energy and intelligence of the generation behind us then general practice will lose out.'
Dr Gerada also warned that asking GPs to manage the performance of colleagues in a consortium could create tensions.
'I am worried about GPs being corralled and being made incredibly uniform. The skill and beauty of general practice is its variability,' she said.
'If consortia spent as much energy looking outside general practice and the variability that might be happening in hospitals I think we would be able to move things on a little further.'
Poor practice must be addressed, but 'that requires separate mechanisms', she said.
