ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at several aspects of the manager's role as the financial controller of the practice. General practice is a business, just as that of the dentist or the chemist or, outside the health care field, the normal conventional trader who buys goods and sells them for profit. Practices with a turnover in excess of a million pounds are now becoming relatively common-place. The general practitioner (GP) is a self-employed businessman, just as is his fellow professional, the solicitor or the architect, or the man running the high street shop. A full Maternity medical services (MMS) fee is paid to GPs who provide a comprehensive service during the pregnancy of a patient, including the confinement and postnatal period. For many years, GPs have been involved in opportunistic health promotion, planned call and recall of patients for preventive care and the planned management of patients with chronic diseases.
