GATEKEEPERS NO MORE - FAMILY PRACTITIONERS AS POWER BROKERS AND FENCEWANDERERS

The term gatekeeping in the context of primary care is neither controv ersial nor appropriate; it cannot be used to describe the complex inte ractions between general practitioners, their patients and the complex ities of the evolving health system, euphemistically called health ref orm. Advocacy has now become paramount if general practice is to survi ve as a discipline in the face of competing economic forces eroding to tal patient care.