Family doctors moved closer towards a ballot on sanctions

Family doctors moved closer towards a ballot on sanctions after talks aimed at settling a dispute on out-of-hours pay broke down last night.

There is said to be "bitter disappointment" among GP leaders over the meeting with Gerald Malone, Minister of State for Health, at his headquarters in London.

There had been hopes of a breakthrough in the deadlock over the GPs' rejection of a Government package of an extra pounds 45m this year to help pay for round-the-clock patient care.

Mr Malone told the chairman of the General Medical Services Committee, Dr Ian Bogle, that there was no possibility of more cash for doctors, and that the demands they had made had raised real difficulties for the Government.