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Public Health in Practice pp 132–157Cite as

The Role of Primary Care in Public Health: A GP Perspective

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Abstract

UK patients have most frequent access to the National Health Service (NHS) through primary care usually by making an appointment with their General Practitioner (GP hereafter): these are often called a ‘family’ or primary care physician elsewhere in the world. GPs and other members of the Primary Health Care Team (PCT) concentrate on improving the health of their patients but generally see each one as an individual. Until recently, few GPs would have been able to take a step back and look at the whole population of patients as a group. GPs and hospital clinicians are now being encouraged to look at patient groups for a variety of reasons that will be made clear in this chapter.

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Authors
  1. Peter McCalister
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Editor information

Andrew Watterson

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© 2003 The Editor(s)

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McCalister, P. (2003). The Role of Primary Care in Public Health: A GP Perspective. In: Watterson, A. (eds) Public Health in Practice. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-21421-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-21421-7_6

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-333-94617-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-230-21421-7

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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