The health secretary, Andrew Lansley, this week announced radical reforms of the health service. Andy Burnham, his opposite number, says it's the end of the NHS as we know it.
Under plans contained in his white paper, 150 primary care trusts would be abolished, with £80bn from their budgets given to GPs, who would be responsible for commissioning healthcare.
Dr Anna Dixon, director of policy at the King's Fund health thinktank, says patients are unlikely to consider data on the quality of local healthcare provision before deciding which surgery to use. And she says strict spending restraints on the NHS mean that the proposals are unlikely to be implemented.
Patrick Butler from SocietyGuardian.co.uk says the plans will lead to an explosion of private healthcare provision.
The Observer's health correspondent, Denis Campbell, says Lansley's proposals are a recipe for "semi-organised anarchy". The Department of Health wouldn't be in control of bodies providing healthcare in the NHS's name.
But health minister Simon Burns insists the reforms will free health providers to deliver an improved service to patients. He explains how provider competition will work.
