What are GPs for, when the chips are down?

[摘要] They say that today’s papers will wrap tomorrow’s chips, but that hasn’t actually been true since about 1981, when they realised the dyes in the ink were a little bit poisonous.Chips or not, an article in the Financial Times recently caught my attention because it appeared to suggest that family doctors may no longer be needed.1On one hand, this is truly excellent news. It means that tomorrow, rather than face the maelstrom of demand that usually accompanies each Monday morning, I can go fishing.On the other hand — what on earth are they talking about?The journalist, who is also a government advisor on health reform, wrote:‘When my son hurt his back badly, I called three surgeries in a panic. Two didn’t answer, and the third told me to call 999.’And:‘If you’re repeatedly fobbed off, as one of my friends was this summer, you might end up in hospital with cancer — which is where she is now.’Whoa, slow down there, and let’s read those somewhat emotive snippets again. Someone hurt their back and someone has cancer. These are bad things, and I’m sorry. Hopefully they are both getting better. But don’t we have purpose-built places where people can go to get fixed up when they have an accident, or an emergency? And wouldn’t the friend with cancer have needed hospital treatment anyway? It’s possible that I may not have grasped the full nettle of these anecdotes, but unless we are to start setting bones and delivering chemotherapy in our local surgeries, isn’t it entirely appropriate for hospitals to continue to do that sort of work.

[学科分类] 卫生学