BMJ 1995;311:1028 (14 October)

Letters

And fiinally, in the good old days..

EDITOR,--Iona Heath's editorial clearly states the effects of social deprivation on general practice.1 I worked for 31 years in a deprived area without any modern advantages. Patients with severe chest pain were not told to dial 999 but were visited by their general practitioner with oxygen, given antiarrhythmic drugs when needed, and visited daily during rehabilitation. Pneumonia was common in winter, but patients were treated effectively at home. Evening visits were made, while Saturdays were full working days, with long evening surgeries. Night visits enabled us to retain our clinical skills and were diluted by daytime trivia. Lighter road traffic made the journey easy, but few patients possessed a telephone, and telephones in the neighbourhood had usually been vandalised.

There were no rotas, deputising services, or appointment systems and no computers to print routine letters and repeat prescriptions; but advantage was taken of the full waiting room to place there . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

General practice at night
Iona Heath
BMJ 1995 311: 466. [Extract] [Full Text]

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