Schizophrenia in primary care

Abstract

Not long ago a young black man attended his GP surgery for his regular injection of an anti-psychotic drug. When this patient arrived, the GP had already begun her morning surgery. The procedure was that patients arrived, booked in at reception and had to wait their turn as there was no appointment system. Most arrived early in an attempt to beat the queues which inevitably built up as this was a popular GP. The result was that our patient had to wait for more than an hour. He was well known to the receptionists as likely to become noisy and even violent if he had to wait long. This indeed happened and by the time his turn came he was already causing some anxiety to others in the waiting room. The system was simply too inflexible to accommodate the needs of this young man. The practice had no nurse.