ABSTRACT
Historically, the price that the NHS or other bodies have paid for GPs’ time has been decided largely on the basis of the political bargaining power of the respective players. At the same time, cashstrapped health authorities and hospitals have had an economic incentive to transfer activity to general practice. The resulting work is usually subsumed within the nationally financed budget of General Medical Services, though increasingly GPs have argued for, and sometimes won, extra local payments for specialist work, such as the treatment of drug addicts.
