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• Opponents to Health Bill have been shut out from Downing Street, claims Shadow Health Secretary
• Health Minister accuses Labour of turning NHS reforms into 'game of political football'
  

By Claire Bates

Last updated at 1:31 PM on 20th February 2012

David Cameron was today accused of deepening divisions in the health service after it emerged that opponents of controversial NHS reforms were excluded from a key Downing Street summit.

The Prime Minister will hold discussions with chairs of the emerging GP-led clinical commissioning groups along with other health officials.

However, eight royal colleges and several health unions say they have not received an invitation to the meeting, which is intended to shore up support for the Health and Social Care Bill.

David Cameron, pictured right on a visit to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle last week, hopes to prove handing power to GPs will improve care

No 10 has refused to release the guest list for today's health summit on the Bill, which faces fierce opposition from professionals, patient groups, Labour and reportedly even Tory Cabinet ministers.

However, the British Medical Association and Royal College of Nursing, who represent more than 500,000 medical staff, said they had been excluded after opposing the reforms.

Both have called for the Health and Social Care Bill to be scrapped as it makes its way through the Lords.

Dr Peter Carter, from the RCN,  told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that holding an 'emergency summit' on the health bill without their presence was not 'a sensible way forward' as they were 'intrinsic to making sure the NHS is successful'.

The BMA said in a statement: 'It would seem odd if the major bodies representing health professionals were not included.'

Labour's Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham, said: 'The NHS means too much to too many people for the Government to play this dangerous game of divide and rule.'

He added that the major health unions had 'strong and sincerely-held views' about the risks to the NHS from the Government's reorganisation.

'They deserved a hearing - not to have the door of Downing Street shut in their faces,' he said.

He called on Mr Cameron to invite the BMA and RCN along with the Royal College of Midwives and Royal College of General Practitioners to the meeting - all of whom oppose the Bill.

Health minister Simon Burns has denied that key bodies were being excluded from talks on the Bill.

He said: 'This (summit) is part of an ongoing dialogue. We have had hundreds of meetings, there have been thousands of people involved in talking and looking into different ways of improving and engaging on the Health Bill.

'That includes the RCN,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman later added: 'We are not excluding anyone,' at a daily Westminster briefing.

However, all those bodies confirming attendance today have yet to directly oppose the Bill.

These include the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, which will set out its position on the Bill in the next few days following a membership survey.

The Royal College of Surgeons, which has agreed to 'critical engagement with Government' over the Bill will also attend the meeting, as will the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which has concerns but has agreed to continue talks with ministers.

The Royal College of Anaesthetists will also go, as will the Royal College of Physicians, which has pledged to continue discussions with the Government.

Labour leader Ed Miliband (left) and shadow health secretary Andy Burnham during a visit to the Royal Bolton Hospital on Friday. Mr Burnham said opponents to the Health Bill 'deserved a hearing'

Mr Burns said on this occasion the Government was meeting organisations that were 'constructively involved' in the process.

'The meeting the Prime Minister is having today is simply part of an ongoing dialogue with those who are constructively involved in improving the reforms.'

He warned that 'in some ways this has become a political football'.

At the ‘summit’, the Prime Minister will reveal statistics that show handing power to GPs can transform care and keep patients out of hospital.

He will go on the offensive amid growing demands from doctors and unions to drop the Health and Social Care Bill, now going through the House of Lords.

Department of Health figures show a 0.5 per cent decline in emergency admissions in 2011, compared with a 36 per cent increase between 2001 and 2010.

Mr Cameron will tell the heads of commissioning boards and some of the royal medical colleges that patients are already beginning to see the fruits of greater GP influence – a key plank of the reforms – in areas where clinical commissioning groups have been set up.

He will point to Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley in Kent, where admissions to hospital of care home patients have been slashed 33 per cent in the past six months. 

In Newcastle, the number of patients admitted with emergency respiratory problems has decreased by 70 per cent. In Bedfordshire a team has been set up to deal with emergency calls from care homes, helping reduce hospital visits by 40 per cent.

But Mr Burnham said: 'The reality is that hospitals are under intense pressure as last week's A&E figures continue to show.'

Those not invited: The Royal College of GPs, the Royal College of Radiologists, The Faculty of Occupational Medicine, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges including the College of Emergency Medicine and the Faculty of Public Health, the Royal College of Pathologists, the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, the BMA, the RCN.