OBJECTIVE To explore patients' accounts of being removed from a general practitioner's list. DESIGN Qualitative analysis of semistructured interviews. SETTING Patients' homes in Leicestershire. PARTICIPANTS 28 patients who had recently been removed from a general practitioner's list. RESULTS The removed patients gave an account of themselves as having genuine illnesses needing medical c...

Two samples of patients aged over 70 years were selected, one sample from a large urban general practice and one from a randomized rural general practice. Patients were interviewed in order to assess their mental, physical and social well-being. Included in the interview were questions on subjective feelings of loneliness.More patients in the urban practice than in the rural practice reported f...

The need for a cost-effective decision-making process is increasingly seen as a challenge within modern family practice. The role of family practice research is well recognized in countries with readily available resources and capacity. However, the situation is different in a number of countries with limited financial resources and current low research capacity. This article reports on an empi...

The editors of BMC Family Practice would like to thank all of our reviewers who have contributed to the journal in Volume 15 (2014).

Financial and operational benchmarking data for family practice residency programs within the University of Washington Network were established for the year 2000. Data were systematically collected by standardized questionnaire, evaluated for quality and verified, and then analyzed. Revenues, expenses, faculty structures, productivity, and family practice center staffing models are reported, us...

This article reports on a national study of collaborative relationships between general practitioners and other health care providers in 20 Division of General Practice projects. It argues that health care organisations will need to collaborate with others in the future and that much can be learnt from the literature on collaborative networks in business and community organisations. Successful ...

BACKGROUND Telemedicine, based on the use of interactive video consultations, is being used more commonly in rural settings. This development is potentially important to rural patients because there are fewer physicians, particularly specialist physicians, in rural areas. Declining costs of telemedicine equipment and transmission have created increased access to these technologies for rural fam...

This review considers key areas in primary care regarding the diagnosis of dementia. Issues surrounding assessment, policy and incentives are considered. In addition, the relevance of non-medication approaches for dementia in primary care, which aim to enhance or maintain quality of life by maximising psychological and social function in the context of existing disabilities, is deliberated. Fin...