ABSTRACT
General practice is administered by Family Health Services Authorities and general practitioners are independent contractors who contract to provide direct access and continuing primary care services to registered patients. Public community health is a mix of National Health Service (NHS) and social, local community services and there is loose collaboration between these three parts of the health system. In the UK an accepted and defined referral system to specialists existed even before the NHS. In the UK, changes in the NHS mean that a greater proportion of care will be provided outside hospitals, by general practitioners and associated community health services. There are committees that recommend numbers of medical students, numbers of physicians likely to be needed for general practice and other specialties and numbers in training posts. In 1992 the Department of Health produced outlines for a Patient's Charter to increase accountability and consumer pressure.
