ABSTRACT
This chapter examines differing models of primary care nursing delivery and how roles might develop in the future. Changes in professional power and increasing consumerism will be discussed in terms of their implications for integrated nursing teams (INTs) and primary care. It has been argued that developing INTs within primary care organisations would be one step closer to the bringing together of functional teams to make up a coherent whole. The World Health Organisation philosophy of primary healthcare emphasises the principles of community participation, equity of provision based on intersectoral collaboration between communities and other services, e.g. health, social services and housing. The crux of making INTs work is to accept that team working is about sharing skills and not about preserving nursing roles which have suited professional groupings. Primary care organisations will need to be grouped into functional groups defined to a much greater extent by consumers.
