A new book published by the Office of Health Economics says that general medical practitioners should learn from the construction industry and become care managers analagous to general building contractors.
The author, Professor Gordon Moore (Harvard university medical school), says that, as care managers, GPs would follow patients through care episodes involving hospitals, consultants and community-based services to ensure that treatment was as efficient and appropriate as possible. They would retrospectively assess the performance of those services.
"The value of traditional general practice is under threat from several sectors," Professor Moore says. These include nurses, pharmacists, the internet and self-test technologies. "The role of care manager . . . provides a natural opportunity for GPs to enhance their worth to the health care system. . . . If general practice fails to adjust and move upstream, its future is certainly challenged."
'Managing to do better: general practice in the 21st century', OHE, 12 Whitehall, London SW1A 2DY (tel 020 7930 9203, fax 020 7747 1419).