[Family medicine in six European countries]

This article aims to contextualize the situation of the Spanish family practice in Europe in relation with family practice in Italy, England, France, Germany and Denmark. The Spanish family practice is the only one in Europe where doctors are dependent on the health care system, work in multidisciplinary teams and they are the only ones to be paid through a salary. The population perceive family practice to be the most accessible and to have very good quality doctors. And all of this with Spain being the country that spends the least in health care. Some European health systems are trying to introduce some of the features that the Spanish health system has increasingly introduced over the past 20 years, thus becoming a model for other countries.