Over 1.2m oppose plan for 'super surgeries'

London: More than 1.2 million people have signed a petition objecting to the government's plans to create "super surgeries" across England, the British doctors' union - the Medical Association (BMA) - said on Thursday.

The BMA said a petition calling for the government to support existing GP practices and urging it to end plans to encourage private firms into primary health care received 1,236,085 signatures in three weeks.

However, Health Minister Ben Bradshaw accused the BMA of "scaremongering" and spreading false information to the public and said some patients had been pressured into backing the petition.

"I am not surprised the BMA have collected so many signatures given the misleading and mendacious nature of their campaign," he said, "If I were to run a campaign making false claims that something terrible was about to happen, a lot of people would sign my petition too."

The BMA rejected Bradshaw's comments, saying there were no inaccuracies in their campaign.

The petition was due to be handed to Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday and Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA's GP Committee, said it would send him a "stark message".

"Voters don't want funding to move from GP practices to commercial companies who are accountable primarily to shareholders rather than patients," Buckman will tell a doctors' conference.

"They want to be treated as patients, not customers. My message to Gordon Brown is this: Whatever you think of GPs, take note of what your electorate thinks."