Delivering a different kind of primary care? Nurses working in personal medical service pilots

This article examines the roles and responsibilities of primary care nurses in England. The study was commissioned by the Department of Health to consider how nurses were working in Personal Medical Service (PMS) pilots--a new initiative launched in April 1998. All nurses in the study reported that they had extended their clinical role--in varying degrees. Nurses were running new clinics and services, and general practitioner time was freed up. Some of the nurses used PMS to deliver a different kind of primary care, one that was more community and patient focused than other General Medical Service providers. Many of the nurses in the study are successfully breaking down traditional demarcations between primary and secondary care, between medicine and nursing, and between professionals and patients.