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The poor chaps are really specialists in looking at computer screens.
Her Majesty pays them for obeying orders.
When there is a group practice of a baker's dozen or more, and you (the patient) are ALLOCATED to a partner, you are just an item of grocery.
It so happens that I chose the doctor I wanted to see for a particular ailment and its complications. Graciously the practice receptionist permitted me. I wonder if all patients are as lucky as I have been.
" Continuists" they were, in times of long ago, when you registered with a GP of your choice. Now Her Majesty, through her minions, puts you in the hands of a PRACTICE. Once upon a time, the doctor looked after the whole family and then, unless people moved away, looked after the sons, daughters, daughters in law, grandchildren too. Now? The concept of family has disappeared.
You say the computerised records are shared by the whole practice. Worse luck. The hand-written notes, on the LLOYD GEORGE envelope actually were far better. Concise. Even if they did not describe pain, or happiness on a scale of 0-10.
I applaud Dr McCartney's description of general practitioners as "continuists". Our advantage as GPs is the ability to see patients on multiple occasions, thus accumulating knowledge and understanding of the condition of our patients within the community. For me the "specialist in life" idea, as promoted by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, at least partially reflects the diversity of the patients we see (including many where traditional disease is down the list of their problems) and the multiple collaborative approaches we use to improve the well-being of our patient populations. "Specialist in life" may be a stretch, and it doesn't fully encompass the benefits of the therapeutic doctor patient relationship we strive for in general practice. But I much prefer "specialist in life" to being "just a GP".
Competing interests:
No competing interests
06 July 2017
Michael Wright
GP
Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation
University Technology Sydney, Sydney NSW Australia 2007
Re: Margaret McCartney: Are GPs specialists in life? Continuists? Tickers of boxes?
The poor chaps are really specialists in looking at computer screens.
Her Majesty pays them for obeying orders.
When there is a group practice of a baker's dozen or more, and you (the patient) are ALLOCATED to a partner, you are just an item of grocery.
It so happens that I chose the doctor I wanted to see for a particular ailment and its complications. Graciously the practice receptionist permitted me. I wonder if all patients are as lucky as I have been.
" Continuists" they were, in times of long ago, when you registered with a GP of your choice. Now Her Majesty, through her minions, puts you in the hands of a PRACTICE. Once upon a time, the doctor looked after the whole family and then, unless people moved away, looked after the sons, daughters, daughters in law, grandchildren too. Now? The concept of family has disappeared.
You say the computerised records are shared by the whole practice. Worse luck. The hand-written notes, on the LLOYD GEORGE envelope actually were far better. Concise. Even if they did not describe pain, or happiness on a scale of 0-10.
Continuity? A fiction.
Competing interests: No competing interests