Letter

Role of general practitioners in NHS must not be undervalued

BMJ 1999; 318 doi: 10.1136/bmj.318.7195.1420b (Published 22 May 1999)
Cite this as: BMJ 1999;318:1420.3

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Author underestimated figures

  1. Tom Hennell (thennell@doh.gov.uk), Strategic analyst
  1. NHS Executive North West, Warrington WA3 7QN
  2. School of Public Policy, University College London, London WC1H 9EZ

    EDITOR—We should be grateful to Majeed for his re-estimation of the proportion of medical care that takes place in general practice.1 His calculation that the proportion is about 70% is, however, too low, as he has extracted the wrong figure from the fourth national survey of morbidity statistics from general practice. The stated figure of 2.9 consultations per person year is the doctor contact rate. The calculated consultation rate, which allows for the fact that there may be consultations for a range of separate conditions during the same visit, was 3.5 per person year, or …

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