Health chiefs have drawn up plans to let supermarkets and phone companies run GP services under a "McDonald's-style" franchise.

Doctors say the plans, which would see practices being run by such companies as Virgin, Asda and Tesco, will result in "junk healthcare".

The Government said last month that new private companies should be brought in to run GP services.

Now Birmingham health officials have drawn up a strategy in which 76 surgeries in the city would merge into 24 units, run on franchises which could be awarded to private-sector companies with no experience in health. GPs would become employees of the corporations.

Dr Robert Morley, a family doctor and a member of the British Medical Association's GP Committee, described the proposals by Heart of Birmingham primary care trust as "the most frightening document I've ever read". He said that by borrowing ideas from the fast-food sector, the NHS would end up "peddling junk healthcare".

The report's author, Sarb Barsi, said the NHS "can learn a lot from companies like McDonald's". The trust's chief executive Dr Sandy Bradbrook said patients would still see their usual GP but would have access to more facilities.
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