General practitioners' plans for developments in the inner city: a review by a primary care project

This paper describes part of the work of a development project, working in Tower Hamlets in east London in 1983-87, with the wider remit for facilitating primary care development in the inner city. Thirty-nine of the 43 practices in the district were visited and general practitioners discussed their plans for development and the problems they encountered. The paper presents the results of the discussions and the follow-up work, which explored how further developments could be brought about. It concludes that many general practitioners are considering and introducing a wide range of new developments in their inner city practices. Planning for development of primary care in the inner city should focus more closely at local levels on what practices are already planning and provide more encouragement and practical help than at present.