title: The role of specialist home care teams: views of general practitioners in south London.
abstract: This study aimed to assess south London general practitioners' views on the role of specialist home care teams and their working patterns, particularly involvement in out-of-hours care. In February 1992, postal questionnaires were sent to the 705 general practitioners working in three adjacent FHSA areas. The response rate was 79%. There was approval of the teams' current role and of extending this to include patients with nonmalignant disease. Most thought a 24-hour on-call and visiting service desirable, and wanted to share out-of-hours care with the teams. The implications of changing and extending the role of specialist teams and the issue of providing adequate out-of-hours care for patients wishing to remain at home are discussed.
authors.affiliation: St Christopher's Hospice, London, UK.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Boyd
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003152:Community Health Nursing; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000523:psychology*; D012380:Role; D013727:Terminal Care