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Jeremy Sims asked on our Wisdom list: > Could anyone please advice whether there are other >organisations such as > HealthCall and London Call providing private GP services in the UK, Last week, someone (not I think in healthcare) rang us, having come across Wisdom on a net browser. He wanted to know how to find private GPs in his area. The main reason seems to be that his child is due MMR vaccination, and he is concerned about one component (??the Measles one), and wants to locate a private GP who would administer the other components separately. I gave hime some possible sources of information, but tried to explain that just finding a private GP might not get him his wants, as the private GP may still not consider such vaccination good practice. Also, with the push to MMR, I am not sure if the components are still available for individual use. This week's BMJ has an article on NeLH (see: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/319/7223/1476), which includes : "Knowledge [for clinical decision making] always has to take into account the patient's condition and the patient's values or, in the case of decisions about groups or populations, the needs and values of that particular population." "Values" are rarely subjective! My understanding of the common definition of EBM encompasses a synthesis of reserach evdence with knowledge of the patient's individual clinical state. But, unless the second of these subtley includes it, it does NOT seem to include patient held views of what they want which may often be strongly held, but weakly based on science. How do you square this circle, and what do you say to the chap who called us, who might nor want his child to have MMR no matter how much "evidence" you show him? Is private practice less "evidence-based" than NHS work? Regards Alan O'Rourke Alan O'Rourke Information Officer WIsdom Centre for Networked Learning Institute of General Practice Community Sciences Centre Community Science Centre Northern General Hospital Sheffield S5 7AU Tel: 0114 271 5095 Fax: 0114 243 3762 E-mail: [log in to unmask] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%