A Scott

..The changes to out of hours care provided by General Practitioners have led to wide variation in the types and costs of out of hours care across the country...

..Further research is required into the demand for out of hours care as new models of care become established...

..The results suggest that policies aimed at influencing General Practitioners' location choices should take account of both non-pecuniary and pecuniary factors, particularly out of hours work commitments...

..g. part-time work), by expanding the scope of contractual arrangements, and by making patient expectations more realistic by clearly communicating what the role of a GP actually encompasses...

..Further research should establish more clearly whether this is as a result of increased referrals by GPs or the prescribing of more expensive drugs by consultants. The results have implications for the setting of prescribing budgets...

..These findings are important for future planning of direct referral services. Important methodological lessons were also learnt about the conduct of trials involving the primary-secondary care interface...

..The competitiveness of nursing pay is shown to have a strong effect on the ability of the NHS to attract and retain nurses...

..To examine factors influencing promotion to hospital consultant...

..The purpose of this study was to explore gender differences in contractual commitments, job satisfaction and spouses' occupation among GP principals in NHS Scotland...

..ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This was the first time a study of all non-principals in Scotland had been attempted. The findings provide a more comprehensive picture of GPs in Scotland and provide valuable information for policymakers...

..This suggests that voluntary participation in these new primary care organisations may reduce rather than exacerbate inequalities in the provision of primary care...

..However, the evidence base for their impact is limited, and preference differences between principals and sessional GPs (previously called non-principals) are insufficiently explored...

..To examine the strength of hospital consultants' preferences for various aspects of their work...

..Finally, management expenditure per capita was comparable with that of other types of integrated primary care organisations...

..Such research is crucial to the development of evidence-based policies...

..This could be achieved through improved pay, additional clinical training, more flexible working hours and improved status...

..The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of GP ultrasound scanning on the use of National Health Service (NHS) resources in the United Kingdom (UK), and elicit patients' preferences for having an ultrasound scan...

..Those currently working above the median number of hours are much less responsive to changes in earnings...

..To examine the effect of Divisions of General Practice on various measures of primary care performance...

..This contract encourages greater involvement in medicines management and other clinical cognitive roles, whilst retaining a supply function...

..The economic impact of community pharmacists providing a medicines management service for patients with CHD has not been rigorously evaluated; the full economic costs of such interventions are rarely presented in the literature...

..6 x 10(-8)). We found that the Mal S180L variant attenuated TLR2 signal transduction...

..To date, little progress has been made in explaining and measuring integration. If further integration in primary health care is warranted, more research is required to understand its nature, form and rationale...

..It concludes by offering a pragmatic framework which can facilitate decisions in this area. Although this paper is written from the perspective of primary care, it is equally relevant to skill mix in the secondary care sector...

..To review innovative models of primary care in different countries in order to identify potential mechanisms for reforming primary care policy in Australia...