Multispecialty surgical conditions in general practice

To report the incidence of multispecialty surgical conditions in patients presenting to a procedural general practice.

A more than 18-year survey (1 August 1983 - 31 January 2002) of the surgical records of a general practitioner-surgeon in an urban general practice.

211 patients each with multiple, elective, surgical problems (mostly non-major) treated at one operation.

The 211 patients represented 9.03% of the practitioner's elective, non-referred, general practice surgical workload. Two separate procedures were performed at one surgical episode for 155 patients (73.5%), three separate procedures for 53 patients (25.1%), and four separate procedures for three patients (1.4%). Having all surgical conditions treated in a single episode resulted in considerable savings in time, convenience and expense for both the patient and the health care system.

There appears to be a place, at least in our major cities, for an appropriately trained and recognised general surgeon, to service patients with more than one minor condition requiring surgery.