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The Health and Social Care Bill proposes clinically led commissioning. The new Clinical Commissioning Groups will become statutory bodies and replace the old primary care trusts. This primary legislation will transfer accountability for health care spending to clinicians who will have a duty to meet the health needs of a population as well as balance a budget. This change gives rise to a number of ethical issues which are explored in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article considers the amount of information that should be given to patients for informed consent to be valid. It is imperative in good medical practice that a patient must give a valid consent to medical treatment and be given the prerogative to refuse treatment. Physicians must give sufficient information about the treatment before treating that person. The evolution of the doctrine of informed consent in the U.S. and Great Britain, and the amount of information that should be given to patients are explored.