ABSTRACT
Practices throughout the country are housed in premises in a variety of styles and sizes. Some are fortunate to have space on the ground floor to house all the consulting rooms and offices, while others have to use upper storeys in order to provide the services required. Inner-city and town premises are likely to be more constrained by cramped premises than those in rural areas. However, rural practices are increasingly providing more and more services such as chiropody and physiotherapy within the practice, saving patients the journey to the nearest hospital. The increase in demand for complementary therapies has meant that practitioners of osteopathy, acupuncture and homoeopathy are frequently to be found offering their services at the surgery also. All this combined with the increased patient expectation for health care generally is putting tremendous pressure on practices to expand.
