The RCP report, due to be published in a few weeks, is expected to say that acute care should be delivered in a variety of ways including by GPs, out-of-hours services, community acute care teams and walk-in centres, and that these should be part of emergency care networks.
The report is also likely to highlight the different levels of acute care that are needed, including care for major trauma and life-threatening illness, acute medical care, and access to simple and/or sophisticated diagnostic support.
Speaking at a satellite session during the RCGP conference in Edinburgh today, Dame Carol Black, chairwoman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and immediate past chair of the RCP, said:
‘It will only happen if the professions decide they want this to happen.’
But she said she would like to see GPs moving more towards the acute sector: ‘Acute care should not just be done by secondary care doctors in a place called a hospital.’
Go to our resource centre to read all of the latest aticles from the RCGP’s annual national primary care conference.
