General medical practice has changed significantly in the past ten years, reflecting a range of innovations giving greater priority to health prevention and promotion and to primary health care generally. One consequence has been a rapid increase in the number of practice nurses. Since 1988 the...

This paper will concentrate on the use of technology in general practice rather than in primary care as a whole. The following items are discussed in turn: basic medical equipment, minor surgery, diagnostic technology and information technology. The results of a study of the use of fundholding...

In a health care system where resources are scarce and the principle of equity is of central concern, mechanisms for the appropriate allocation of resources based on the notion of relating resource use to some concept of need are essential. Two key issues raised in the UK government’s White...