BMJ  2005;330:671 (19 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7492.671

Letter

Developing primary palliative care

Continuity of care is paramount but needs to be tailored individually

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Riley suggests that completion of a form detailing palliative care management should be mandatory for general practitioners.1 I have spent a great deal of time promoting palliative medicine in primary care, with variable success. Much depends on the individual practitioner's experience and interest, which probably accounts for the variable success of handover forms to communicate with out of hours services.

Making this a compulsory part of general practice might bring all practice to the same level. But the initial answer to the question, "Would I be surprised if my patient died in the next 12 months?" would then make the difference. Cynical practitioners would probably answer no for nearly all of their patients, for the longer you practise the less often you are surprised.

But, in truth, for many patients in general practice the answer to this question would be no: many elderly patients who live in nursing . . . [Full text of this article]

Paul A Fox, general practitioner

Stanley Health Centre, Wakefield WF3 4BH PAFoxy@aol.com


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Relevant Article

Developing primary palliative care: Completion of community palliative care management form should be mandatory
Julia Riley
BMJ 2005 330: 42. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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