ABSTRACT
A genuine ‘open door’ policy in which the social worker was ready to see all comers with as little delay as possible and to take on emergencies immediately, implied flexibility in methods and aims and a limited, regular caseload. Some patients quite simply needed more time than the practice social worker could give. Others needed specialised help, such as group therapy or help from more than one social worker in complex family situations. The many teaching and specialist hospitals in and around Camden had large medical social work departments. At the start of the project, the general practice team felt there were a lot of social workers in the area, but that they did not know them personally nor what they did. Pressures of work, staff changes, waiting-lists for day or training centres, different types and levels of social work training and also different abilities of individual workers, all affected the service that could be offered to a patient.
