Letters
New agreement is not the answer but an opportunity
EDITOR,--I do not share Brian Hurwitz's pessimistic response to the out of hours agreement for general practitioners.1 The rising tide of demand for night calls is not the result of the patient's charter or the 1990 contract; it has its origins in a cultural shift of attitudes, which these documents reflected--a tendency to think exclusively in terms of the rights of the consumers of services at the expense of those who provide the services. This affects not just doctors but also teachers, ambulance crews, and even mountain rescue teams.
The new agreement represents an appreciable change in the government's approach. The problem of falling recruitment, especially among women doctors, has led to an acknowledgement that general practitioners cannot be expected to provide 24 hour cover. Terms of service have been amended, and money is being made available to allow the development of primary care night centres, which most patients will
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- The new out of hours agreement for general practitioners
- Brian Hurwitz
BMJ 1995 311: 824-825.[Extract] [Full Text]
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