ABSTRACT
Hitherto, research has been perceived as a marginal activity for most primary care organisations. A health services researcher might principally be interested in patients’ perceptions of cancer, but might need to have an understanding also of its epidemiology, its aetiology and its staging. The public health and service planning functions that primary care trusts (PCT) are responsible for will mean that epidemiological research is bound to feature prominently on the primary care research (PCR) agenda, as a tool for understanding local patterns of health and illness and their determinants. If PCR is to realise its potential, however, it is vital that we should be able to place it on some kind of firm theoretical foundation. Many PCTs are faced with the task of extending services to patient groups who have historically been either excluded from traditional general practice/primary care or else under-served by it.
