Linking education, research, and service in general practice

Opportunities for the development of university linked general practices

Over the past decade general practice has undergone major changes that have placed it theoretically in the forefront of a “primary care led NHS” and increasingly in the mainstream for providing undergraduate medical education.1 2 Thus general practitioners have gained an increasing role in caring for patients who would formerly have been in hospital or other care facilities. Many general practitioners have also been engaged in purchasing care for their patients through fundholding schemes, and it is clear from the white paper that general practitioners will continue to have a major role in commissioning.3 These and other changes in healthcare provision have led to a consensus that a much greater proportion of both undergraduate and postgraduate medical education should take place in general practice.4 In addition, a clear …