A physician who has a general or family practice, medical specialist.
A practicing physician who does not specialize in any particular field of medicine (e.g. is not a specialist). Should be contrasted with a family physician who has specialized (not all do), and is subject to specialty hoard examination, in the care of families, and a primary care physician who may be a specialist in any of several specialties.
A doctor who is the main agent of primary medical care, through whom patients make first contact with health services for a new episode of illness or fresh developments of chronic diseases. Advice and treatment are provided for those who do not require the expertise of the specialist services of hospitals (secondary medical care). Two or more practitioners may form a partnership sharing fees and work loads, including cross-cover for each other’s patients. When they share premises, secretarial help, and other resources this constitutes a group practice.
A general practitioner (‘family doctor’; ‘family practitioner’) is a doctor working in primary care, acting as the first port of professional contact for most patients in the NHS. There are approximately 35,000 GPs in the UK, and their services are accessed by registering with a GP practice — usually called a surgery or health centre. Patients should be able to see a GP within 48 hours, and practices have systems to try to ensure that urgent problems are dealt with immediately. GPs generally have few diagnostic or treatment facilities themselves, but can use local hospital diagnostic services (X-rays, blood analysis, etc.) and can refer or admit their patients to hospital, where they come under the supervision of a consultant. GPs can prescribe nearly all available medicines directly to their patients, so that they treat 90 per cent of illnesses without involving specialist or hospital services.