Rational prescribing Takes time

EDITOR, - The Audit Commission has highlighted the financial cost of what it terms overprescribing by general practitioners, and politicians have been prompt to condemn such practice.1 Although sensible prescribing is good practice and should be encouraged, this issue brings into relief some important aspects of general practitioners' activity. Limitations in resources available to general practitioners - particularly time - predict, to some extent, their choice of clinical management. Moreover, in the present political and social climate our expectation, even in primary care, is at an unprecedented level. The promise explicit in numerous political statements, including the patient's charter, has further widened the gap between expectation and likely fulfilment. …