Membership is touted as "voluntary" but massive media advertising, including a huge billboard by the railway station and a letter from the Prime Minister make crude attempts to have patients coerce their GP to join PHOs, or to move to one who has.
PHOs as set up are an attempt by the Commissars of this government to create a "dictatorship of the proletariat". We have fought wars to retain our freedom of choice, but PHOs attempt to label different choices as "inequalities" and not the right to decide one's own future.
This practice is a private enterprise and will promote the best interest of the individual patient with a medical health need, independent of place of residence, perceived ethnicity, availability of "public" services or any other ivory tower concept. As such we are unable to sign up to a PHO.
This will mean our fees will not be as low as those in a PHO but you will have the total right to ask for a short or long consultation as you may require. Medication, investigations, preventative care and referrals will be based on what is best for your need, subject only to availability and your choice. Therefore, freedom of choice may not be free of cost, so some form of health insurance may be wise, particularly for private investigations, specialist and hospital care.
If you feel disadvantaged by government denial of health subsidies, such as lower prescription fees (note the pharmacist doesn't have to be in a PHO), you should complain to your MP, not to me as I support your right to have the same subsidies as everyone else. It is the government that instigated this "two tier" primary health system based on failed idiology, not me. It is your tax money that is supporting other people who may well be earning more than you, just because their GP opted to join a PHO. If you don't like the MP's response, please feel free to vote for someone else!