Community nurses' view of general practice attachment.

An analysis of 98 health visitors and district nurses attached and non-attached to general practitioners in three local authority areas showed that most of them were aged over 40 and that many had entered domiciliary work because of the convenient hours or because of its intangible attractions. Adequate preparation for attachment was considered important, particularly a clear definition of the roles of the attached staff and their relationships to other workers in the practice.Attached staff were found to be much more satisfied with the information given by the general practitioner about their patients than were unattached staff, and the former usually had access to the patients' medical records. The principal advantages of attachment were listed as access to family history; improved co-ordination within the practice and co-operation with the social services; favourable patient response; and increased mileage and work-load; the impossibility of crossing local authority boundaries; and having to deal with families registered with more than one doctor.