Future role of the general practitioner in the hospital service.

A special subcommittee of the General Practitioner Liaison Committee of the Birmingham Regional Hospital Board used five attitude surveys of groups of general practitioners and a comprehensive study of other publications to determine the future role of the general practitioner in the hospital service.From these and other studies they concluded that, although not all general practitioners wished to participate in hospital work, there was an urgent need to provide suitable facilities and a proper career structure early after qualification for those who did, and that there should be hospital inpatient accommodation in which general practitioners can treat their own patients, preferably in association with consultant beds rather than in separate general-practitioner units.