General Practitioner
General practitioners (GPs) diagnose and treat a wide range of health conditions that can have physical, emotional or social causes, giving patients advice on health issues, prescribing medicine or treatment, and performing minor surgery. Where appropriate, they refer patients to other healthcare professionals. They also educate patients about healthy lifestyles and have responsibility for preventative programmes, such as health screening and flu vaccinations. For most people, GPs are their first point of contact with the National Health Service (NHS).
GPs are the gateway to other medical services and are responsible for referring patients on to specialists (usually hospital consultants). Because GPs monitor and treat a wide range of conditions, if patients need more specialist care, the GP should refer them on.
Cases against GPs often involve a failure to refer a patient for investigations or for specialist treatment. Cases are also brought against GPs for a delay in diagnosis or misdiagnosis of a medical problem.
If you have suffered as a result of a medical accident or because of sub-standard care or management, the law can help you find out what happened and why, and in some cases recover compensation for your suffering. Contact us for further information.
back
