ISSN: 2044-9038 (Print) 2044-9046 (Electronic)

Clinical Practice

Nursing In General Practice

 General Practice Nursing is a rapidly expanding speciality in nursing, reflecting the shift in health care delivery from secondary to primary care over the last two decades. Initially nurses were said to be attracted to working within General Practice because of the regular hours and flexibility offered because it tended not to involve shift work. Increasingly it is because of the ability to work with individuals and families and to take on a variety of roles and responsibilities. Following the formation of the NHS in 1948, General Practitioners were appointed as independent contractors and ‘gatekeepers’ of access to health care. They have been responsible for delivering primary and personal medical care to all those patients registered with them ever since. It was not until 1966 that the first contract between General Practitioners (GPs) and the National Health Service (NHS) was drawn up and funding for ancillary staff, including nurses, was made available. In the very early days nurses were generally employed to work in treatment rooms, carrying out basic nursing care tasks such as weighing patients, testing urine, taking specimens, doing dressings and giving injections and observations such as temperature and pulse (Cartwright and Scott 1961) . The limited range of duties of the General Practice Nurse (GPN) at this time would have been unlikely to exceed the competencies expected of any registered general nurse.  

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