G.P.'s

In my charity we work a lot with other professionals. Sometimes this is great and together we achieve a lot, sometimes not. The worst group of people to work with I have found is GP's. Therea re some great ones out there, but certainly in the City I work in they are far and few between.

For example, I have in the past worked to set up a sexual health project for young people - we have a very high rate of sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancy. In meetings with a number of GP's we would discuss how this project will work, the role they could play in referring young people to us, displaying publicity and inviting young people in for general health check ups. Time after time at the end of our speil about the benefits of the service the GP would say to us 'How do I get paid for this?' The money seemed to be uppermost in most GP's mind rather than the needs of the people they provide a service to.

Lots of GP's seem to see themselves as a small business first and a provider of services second. Some may say that this is how all self employed people see themselves. However in our work with small businesses, I have found many of them far more concerned about the issues in the local community, even when these have no direct impact on them, than GP's.