ABSTRACT
Experience as a patient, a mother, a friend and also as a health service manager suggests that there are many occasions when a health problem arises which needs to be queried or talked through with a health professional, but not necessarily with a doctor. The Cumberlege community nursing review found, from a specially commissioned Marplan survey, that two thirds of the respondents would be prepared to see or talk to a nurse instead of a doctor. The 1990s have seen a growing interest in the potential for nurse practitioners, and the introduction of a number of nurse practitioner diploma courses. In any business, time can be as valuable a resource as money. Concern about time constraints extends to the users of the family doctor service; much of the consumer research in general practice suggests that patients worry about wasting the doctor’s time, and believe that doctors do not spend enough time with patients.
