The future of primary care nurses and health visitors

doi:10.1136/bmj.39043.386019.80

BMJ 2006;333:1185-1186 (9 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.39043.386019.80

Editorials

The future of primary care nurses and health visitors

Increasing fragmentation threatens the primary healthcare team

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

New policies, new contracts, and financial pressureshave altered the roles of primary care nurses and health visitorsand their relationship with general practitioners (GPs). Howwill the primary care trust survive?

In remote areas of some rich nations (such asrural Australia) highly trained nurses provide the core of primarymedical care for adults and children. In many developing nations(such as Bangladesh and China) locally trained nurses tend towork in hospitals and private clinics in towns, whereas healthcare in rural communities often depends on lay medical aidesand occasionally doctors. In the United States nurses managecare for chronic disease.¹

In the United Kingdom, some nurses are employedby independent contractor GPs, while others including healthvisitors are attached to general practice teams but are paidand managed by primary care organisations. They have workedalongside GPs for many years: good communications between suchprimary care . . . [Full text of this article]

Christopher Derrett, general practitioner¹, Lydia Burke, senior lecturer²

¹ Barton House Group Practice, London N16 9JT , ² Middlesex University, London N19 5LW

c.j.derrett@qmul.ac.uk

l.burke@mdx.ac.uk

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