"Dunn Matthew (South Warwickshire General Hospitals NHS Trust)"
<[log in to unmask]>typed
> Most general practice is not acute. General Practice is changing as a
> speciality, but
> it seems that what GPs do best and what has the most impact on the
> health of the
> population are primary prevention, secondary prevention and chronic disease
> management (in that order). The acute side of a GPs work is usually a
> fairly minor
> part of the workload and is well covered elsewhere in the NHS.
Most general practice might not be acute, but we need members of the
medical profession to be able to recognise and act appropriately in
cases of acute illness.
We have Gordon Brown talking about accessibility of care with respct to
the case of the late Penny Campbell, who died of septicaemia a few days
after she had her haemorrhoids injected. She had EIGHT contacts with
health professionals in the days befrore she died implying to me that
ACCESS was adequate; appropriate action was sadly lacking.
We really must teach our juniors to recognise severe illness. This is
not always possible over the phone.
--
Helen D. Vecht: [log in to unmask]
Edgware.
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