> The label "GP" is a foolish one - primary care
> physician would be better. Even within a practice you
> will have people with different interests.
> There exist GPs who are anaesthetists, paediatricians
> etc. It is folly, and a waste of manpower not to
> employ these people in A/E. There are many different
> reasons why people don't want to work in hospitals. It
> doesn't mean they are any less skilled. NB if they are
> truly interested I have found that these guys do
> hospital sessions anyway.
This is a bit of a different thing- employing doctors who happen to be GPs
as A and E middle grades, which (where you have GPs with the appropriate
interest) works extremely well.However, I am a bit more wary of employing
someone specifically to see primary care problems anywhere other than in
primary care. (GPs doing primary care work in A and E may be cheaper and
provide better care than SHOs seeing primary care conditions in A and E, but
they are almost certainly more expensive and provide worse care than GPs
seeing primary care conditions in General Practices)- I feel we should be
directing these conditions to appropriate care rather than trying to improve
our own care of them.
Matt Dunn
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