Group Medical Practice

A DEFINITION of a group practice might wvell be given as follows:-A group medical practice is one in which two, three, four, five or more family doctors combine to work as general practitioners from a main consulting room centre. A branch surgery or surgeries may also be required depending on the distribution of the patients geographically. Ancillary staff in the way of receptionists, caretakers, and cleaners would be required and close liaison should be established with the relevant local authorities regarding attached health visitors, social welfare workers, district nurses, and midwives. The development of this type of practice in Northern Ireland has recently been greatly accelerated and statistics as at 1st January, 1964, show the following picture: Total number of groups= 13, distributed over Northern Ireland as follows: