ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the key health policy changes in the 1980s in the British National Health Service. The aim is to assess the impact on the professional powers of an important sub-group, general practitioners. Although the medical profession is often treated as homogeneous, the circumstances in which different groups of doctors practise affects the degree of autonomy they exercise and the extent to which they dominate in various spheres and relationships. The chapter examines the workworld of general practitioners and how the changing practices of government have brought shifts in the general practitioner’s relationships with the state, professional colleagues and patients. It is argued that the professional autonomy of the general practitioner has been enhanced by the introduction of market forces and general practitioners have gained in relation to their hospital colleagues. The state has gained political advantage by focusing on divisions of interest within the profession.
