Anglo-Canadian Exchange in General Practice: British View of Canadian General Practice

Abstract

The Canadian general practitioner is remunerated by an item-of-service system of payment which encourages servicing demands rather than needs, discourages delegation of work to paramedical workers, and involves his staff in a massive amount of paper work. He has an excellent hospital attachment, which unfortunately is overdone. His community facilities are piecemeal and his office organization is rudimentary. There are few incentives for good general practice in the community. He spends an inordinate amount of time examining well people. The university departments of general practice are extremely good and much should be heard from them very quickly. The patient's attitude towards his doctor is quite different from the one prevailing currently in Britain.

I returned happily to British general practice.