BMJ  2005;331:1448-1449 (17 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.38676.769711.7C (published 8 December 2005)

Commentary

General practitioners with special interests—not a cheap option

¹ National Primary Care Research and Development Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL m.roland@man.ac.uk

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

General practitioners with a special interest are general practitioners with special experience or training that enables them to take referrals which would normally be seen by specialists. The training of a new cadre of general practitioners with special interest was a key part of the UK government's 2000 NHS Plan.

Are general practitioners with special interests likely to be an effective and cost effective way of providing care? A randomised controlled trial by Salisbury et al and an economic evaluation by Coast et al provide some answers.^{1 2} The results show that in dermatology a general practitioner with special interest service was effective: patients were seen more quickly, were more satisfied, and had similar clinical outcomes when compared with those seen in a specialist clinic. However, the NHS costs of referring patients to a general practitioner with special interest were 75% more than for specialist clinics. The main reason for this . . . [Full text of this article]

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