Nurse-led management of minor illness in a GP surgery

This study reports on an intervention in which a practice nurse saw patients with acute minor illnesses presenting to one general practice. Three hundred and forty-three patients were seen, of whom 328 (96%) were managed by the nurse alone and 145 (42%) were given prescriptions. In a time of increasing pressure on all members of the primary health-care team, interventions such as this need careful consideration and require a review of the relative roles of nurses and general practitioners