Should general practitioners resume 24 hour responsibility for their patients? Yes

doi:10.1136/bmj.39350.506991.AD

BMJ 2007;335:696 (6 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.39350.506991.AD

Feature

Head to head

Should general practitioners resume 24 hour responsibility for their patients? Yes

Roger Jones, Wolfson professor of general practice

Department of General Practice and Primary Care, King's College London, London SE11 6SP

roger.jones@kcl.ac.uk

Complaints about the care provided by out of hours servicesin the UK are growing. Roger Jones thinks that general practitionersshould take back the role, but Helen Herbert believes theirefforts would be better focused on improving current systems

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

New contractual arrangements to encourage practices to opt backin to 24 hour responsibility and to support general practitionerswho choose to discharge this responsibility personally wouldhave many benefits. The change would begin to redress the increasingseparation of daytime, surgery based care from out of hourscare provided by deputising services. These arrangements wouldalso improve general practice training; greatly increase thequality and appropriateness of out of hours care, particularlyin terms of hospital admissions and appropriate use of servicesby patients; and enhance patient safety by improving the communicationof important clinical information. They would be widely welcomednot only by patients but also by other sectors of the medicalprofession, and are also likely to be cost effective.

The background to this debate is the new contract for generalpractitioners introduced in 2004, which allowed practitionersto opt out of 24 hour responsibility. In a . . . [Full text of this article]

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Relevant Articles

Summary of responses: Birte Twisselmann
BMJ 2007 335: 787-788. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Should general practitioners resume 24 hour responsibility for their patients? No: Helen Herbert
BMJ 2007 335: 697. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Out of hours primary care—a shambles?: Iona Heath
BMJ 2007 334: 341. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

Twisselmann, B. (2007). Summary of responses. BMJ 335: 787-788 [Full text]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Out of hours GPs are well qualified , good doctors: Caroline A Mitchell
bmj.com, 5 Oct 2007 [Full text]
General practitioners still do provide out-of-hours care: Robert L. Morley
bmj.com, 5 Oct 2007 [Full text]
Whos falt is this anyway and why make it any worse than it already is ?: Alex G. Robertson
bmj.com, 5 Oct 2007 [Full text]
FINGS AINT WHAT THEY USED TO BE..: Graeme Mackenzie
bmj.com, 6 Oct 2007 [Full text]
Should general practitioners resume 24 hour responsibility for their patients? Yes: Imran Arfeen
bmj.com, 6 Oct 2007 [Full text]
No need for extended hours: chris jenkins
bmj.com, 7 Oct 2007 [Full text]
TORONTO: After Hours medicine.: Alexander FRANKLIN
bmj.com, 7 Oct 2007 [Full text]
Family Physicians: Milind A Patil
bmj.com, 8 Oct 2007 [Full text]
OOH, General Practice and Sanity: David P Jones
bmj.com, 8 Oct 2007 [Full text]
yes responsibility is for doctors to bear: robert derek wintertton
bmj.com, 8 Oct 2007 [Full text]
In reply to Mr Wintertton above...: David P Jones
bmj.com, 9 Oct 2007 [Full text]
in the long run - giving up out of hours has been a bad thing: edmund willis
bmj.com, 10 Oct 2007 [Full text]
gp 24hr resposibility: tariq m hama
bmj.com, 10 Oct 2007 [Full text]
The Good Old Days: David Howard
bmj.com, 10 Oct 2007 [Full text]
Not keen!: Rosemary B Martin
bmj.com, 11 Oct 2007 [Full text]
24 hours: Gregory M Read
bmj.com, 11 Oct 2007 [Full text]
depends on format: Duran Kandhai
bmj.com, 11 Oct 2007 [Full text]
24hour responsibility: ravinder Norman
bmj.com, 11 Oct 2007 [Full text]
In support of the GP Co-op: john m caine
bmj.com, 12 Oct 2007 [Full text]
GP Land: Dr. Raja Baber Sheraz
bmj.com, 13 Oct 2007 [Full text]
Not either or...: Steven Ford
bmj.com, 13 Oct 2007 [Full text]
I 'm confused: Laurie R. Davis
bmj.com, 15 Oct 2007 [Full text]
scrap this series: Declan P Fox
bmj.com, 16 Oct 2007 [Full text]
Antidepressants for the young: Deva S Indrajith
bmj.com, 18 Oct 2007 [Full text]