An alternative method of employing a social worker in general practice.

This is an account of a scheme set up in 1977 under which a group practice employs a qualified social worker. She is employed for 10 hours a week as one of the practice's ancillary staff, so that 70 per cent of her salary is reimbursed by the Family Practitioner Committee. Her only link with the local social services department is an informal one arising out of her having previously worked in the department. She is not connected with any of the voluntary agencies which occasionally make counsellors available to general practitioners.The advantages of the scheme include an exclusive commitment by the social worker to the practice team, rather than to an area social services team, and the greater acceptability, to both patients and doctors, of social work help by having it available on the premises. These advantages outweigh the disadvantages of some professional isolation and the lack of immediately available resources. In an economic climate which makes the chances of social workers being regularly placed in general practice even more remote than they have been hitherto, this scheme provides a possible alternative.