General practitioner hospitals and the relationship of general practice to hospital medicine

Thesis

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the relationship between consultants and general practitioners, particularly as far as hospital in—patient care is concerned. How has the role of each of them evolved? What is the effect of the division between consultants and general practitioners on in-patient care? What is the role of the general practitioner as far as in-patient care is concerned, particularly in general practitioner units?

In order to examine these questions the historical origin of the general practitioner and consultant is described, and the results of two surveys are presented.

The first survey was carried out in 1970 in a teaching hospital, The Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, and is called the Radcliffe Survey. The second was carried out in 1970-71 and consisted of a survey of all medical admissions from one general practice in Wantage to Wantage Hospital and consultant wards in the United Oxford Hospitals; this is called the Wantage Survey.

The results of these surveys are used to examine a number of hypotheses. These will be stated in detail, but broadly speaking the aim of the surveys was to try to discover how much hospital care can be provided in a general practitioner hospital as an alternative to consultant care, how the admissions to the two types of hospital are selected and how they differ. Obstetrics is not included in either survey because the role of G.P. obstetric units has been well covered in a number of publications. The Radcliffe Survey was concerned with medical and surgical patients, but it is medical admissions that form the largest part of in-patient care in general practitioner hospitals and, at the same time, the least investigated. Therefore, the Wantage Survey was concerned almost exclusively with medical admissions.

Authors: Loudon, I

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-yjwagrjng
• Type of award: DM
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: practitioners; practice; hospitals; general; GP; GPs; hospital; practitioner; medicine
• Subjects: Hospitals; Physicians (General practice)