Will the lead clinician please stand up?: That'll be the general practitioner

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7497.966-b

BMJ 2005;330:966 (23 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7497.966-b

Letter

Will the lead clinician please stand up?

That'll be the general practitioner

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

EDITOR—In his personal view Gannon shows that a lead clinicianwith clear ownership of patients' cases is crucial in ensuringcontinuity of care.¹ I know who the lead clinician is—thegeneral practitioner. Secondary care now seems so refined andpigeonholed that there are no remaining generalists, exceptingaccident and emergency and geriatricians, left in hospitals.I have been asked by a cardiologist in the left ventricularfunction clinic to refer a patient to the general cardiologyclinic because the echocardiogram is fine but the patient mighthave angina.

I recognise Gannon's scenario and could describe several similarinstances every year, thankfully not all with such sad ends.

The general practitioner is well placed to provide the overview,but the key problem hampering this role is the quality of communicationhe or she receives from secondary care. This falls into twomain categories: prompt, but illegible and incomplete; and . . . [Full text of this article]

Maurice Conlon, general practitioner principal

Ridgacre House Surgery, South Birmingham Primary Care Trust, Birmingham B32 2TJ maurice.conlon@southbirminghampct.nhs.uk