Managing eating disorder patients in primary care in the UK: a qualitative study.

It is the general practitioner's (GP's) responsibility to diagnose and manage the care of eating disorder patients but recent surveys suggest that there may be problems. In this qualitative study we have explored the perceptions of 20 GPs. In general they felt that eating disorders had little quantitative impact on their services due to low prevalence, but a high impact when they did occurr due to their complexity. Patients' needs in primary care include improved assessment, constructive holding and monitoring, staff training, referral and continuity of care.