Good general practitioners will continue to be essential

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Abstract
What is primary care? Primary care has been defined as: “The first level contact with people taking action to improve health in a community. In a system with a gatekeeper, all initial (non-emergency) consultations with doctors, nurses or other health staff are termed primary care as opposed to secondary health care or referral services.”2 International comparisons of healthcare systems have shown that the United Kingdom ranks highly on scores of primary care orientation, and countries with good primary care systems show improvement in the health of individuals and populations, together with greater satisfaction with care.3 Within the NHS general practice is a central component of primary care. General practice is defined as: “An academic and scientific discipline, with its own educational content, research base and clinical activity, orientated to primary care and built on fundamental principles.”4