Professional functions of General Practitioner

- running surgeries, listening to and questioning patients sensitively;
- referring patients to specialist services in hospitals;
- maintaining patient confidentiality and impartiality;
- planning and providing appropriate treatment;
- commissioning health care by liaising with medical professionals in the community and hospitals;
- promoting health education in conjunction with other health professionals;
- organising preventative medical programmes for individual patients;
- meeting targets set by the government for specific treatments, e.g. child immunisations;
- managing resources to service the targets as effectively as possible;
- providing advice on medical care, including immunisations for those travelling abroad;
- providing specialist clinics for specific conditions or for certain groups, e.g. diabetes or new babies;
- using IT skills - some practices have one partner who may specialise in the use of IT within the - practice, but all will be expected to have basic abilities for work such as maintaining patients' records;
- keeping up to date with medical developments, new drugs, treatments and medications, including complementary medicine (the internet is increasingly being used as a means of researching and gathering information on medical products);
- discussing the development of new pharmaceutical products with pharmaceutical sales representatives;
- observing and assessing the work of trainee general practitioners (GPs);
- teaching at medical schools or hospitals;
- maintaining a portfolio of continuing professional development (CPD) activities.