THE flagship NHS shake-up is savaged by a Tory-led committee of MPs today - just hours after the government was forced to slam the brakes on its progress, to calm public fears.
Key aspects of the Health and Social Care Bill are torpedoed by the Commons health select committee, which warns of lax controls over £60bn of taxpayers' cash and the risk of free-market competition harming care.
The damning report comes after Health Secretary Andrew Lansley announced a "natural break" in the Bill's passage, to allow ministers to "pause, listen and engage", to counter a rising tide of criticism.
David Cameron and Nick Clegg are expected to appear on stage together, amid briefings that No.10 is seizing control of the controversy and freezing out the under-fire Mr Lansley.
The move has fuelled expectations that a major climbdown is looming. No Cabinet ministers were in the Commons to offer support to the beleaguered Health Secretary yesterday.
Today's report urges Mr Lansley to: * Abandon plans to put consortia of GPs in sole charge of commissioning treatment - demanding a beefed-up role for hospital doctors, nurses, public health experts and local councillors on properly "accountable" boards.
* Give those boards clear legal powers to decide how to run services - to tackle fears that private firms could launch legal challenges and 'cherry-pick' the most lucrative services.
All primary care trusts (PCTs) will be abolished by 2013, threatening the jobs of 4,000 NHS staff across the region. Many are already being made redundant.
Concern has centred on plans to allow "any willing provider" to bid to run services, prompting fears that private firms will grab the easiest treatments - forcing some NHS hospitals out of business.
Today's report calls for 'Local Commissioning Authorities' - boasting a range of other health experts - to commission services.
Dr John Canning, a Middlesbrough family doctor who sits on the national GP committee of the British Medical Association, welcomed the hint that private companies will not be allowed to "cherry-pick" more lucrative areas of health care.
He added: "I think that GPs are the right people to advise on how NHS budgets are spent and to deal with the clinical side of things but I don't think GPs are the right people to manage the money."
* See The Northern Echo today for the full story.
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