General practitioners in the hospital service : report of a Sub-group on General Practitioners in the Hospital Service [of the] Joint Working Party on the Integration of Medical Work.

  • Great Britain. Joint Working Party on the Integration of Medical Work. Sub-group on General Practitioners in the Hospital Service
Date:
1973
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: General practitioners in the hospital service : report of a Sub-group on General Practitioners in the Hospital Service [of the] Joint Working Party on the Integration of Medical Work. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    27/36 page 15
    5.14 THe Anarstuetics Unit. The general practitioner has frequently been engaged as a part-time anaesthetist in hospitals providing surgical services in both rural and urban communities. An extension of this arrangement for suitably qualified doctors in the larger centres of population would be of considerable benefit; and since posts in anaesthetics are readily organised on a sessional basis they are well suited to fit in with general practice. 5.15 THe Pagepiatric Unit. We believe that the child health service of the future will have to be developed on a community basis and that general practitioners will require to make a significant contribution to its organisation and operation in the preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic fields. The role of the general practitioner, as the first point of contact for the family and as the physician most intimately concerned with screening services, should establish him in a vital position in the child health organisation for the district and some member(s) of every group ractice should have a special responsibility for this work. The association with the child health team need not involve hospital duties—but where hospital participation can be arranged on the basis which we have suggested it should be encouraged. Nonetheless, all doctors belonging to the child health service should be in a position to have close and regular contact with colleagues in the same service. 5.16 THE Geriatric UNIT. A considerable amount of the time of the general practitioner is taken up in the care of elderly patients. While most of these patients will be treated at home or in a health centre many will require to be admitted to hospital where they will have the added distress of having to adapt to strange surroundings. This distress could be offset to a considerable degree if the patients remained under the care of the family doctor who is not only known to them but is in possession of information about their medical and social state which could have relevance to their diagnostic, therapeutic and social needs. As with the psychiatric service the general practitioner could play an important part in the activity of the day hospital as well as in the assessment and long-stay wards. §.17 Tue Ossterric Unir. Although in future nearly all deliveries will take place in hospital it is important that the general practitioner should continue to play a vital role in what has been traditionally recognised as an essential aspect of good family practice. As the doctor of first contact, the general practitioner should clearly share the ante-natal care, with the contribution of the specialist team (possibly including a colleague in the group who has a part-time specialist contract in the obstetric unit) being either at hospital, clinic or health centre. Facilities however, in close association with or as part of specialist units should still be provided for the adequately trained practitioner who wishes to confine his own selected patients or those of other practitioners within his group. Such practitioners could also serve on a sessional basis with the specialist team. =)
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3