General Practitioners and Nursing Staff: A Complete Attachment Scheme in Retrospect and Prospect

Abstract

The history of the Oxford general-practitioner/nursing-staff attachment scheme is briefly recorded from the first experimental full-time attachment of a health visitor to a partnership of three in November 1956 to the complete attachment of all nursing staff by 4 March 1965. For the past three years every practice, large and small, has hed at least one health visitor, one district nurse, and one midwife, either full-time or part- time according to its need. The concept of the general practitioner as leader of the domiciliary team is working actively in practice throughout the whole city, to the advantage of patients, doctors, and nurses. It is believed that Oxford is still the only local health authority to have a complete attachment scheme, so that an account of our experience may be of interest to others.