ABSTRACT
Health systems with strong primary care thus produce better patient outcomes. Primary care also reduces the overall cost of healthcare to society. The ratio of primary care physicians to the population correlates well with the overall cost of health-care. In the European system primary care has been founded on the work of medical generalists leading teams of healthcare professional (HCP) and administrative staff who collectively deliver primary care to a registered list of patients. Primary care offers a unique set of challenges for any HCP and is different to the experience of collaborative working in other settings such as hospitals. Many international agencies, including the European Union and World Health Organization, have generated policy-related material to promote the development of interprofessional and collaborative practice. Effective collaborative practice requires that those involved acknowledge and seek to understand the distinctiveness of each other’s professional and developmental backgrounds and place these differences in the context of meeting the needs of patients.
