The laboratory and the general practitioner

Clinical laboratories provide vital services for primary care and such work will inevitably increase with the moves to increase the extent to which pa tients are treated in the primary care setting, an increase in day-case sur gery and shorter in-patient stay. The relationship between clinical laborat ories and general practitioners should be a partnership with both the parti es communicating efficiently in the interest of the patient. In particular, a close relationship between general practitioners and specialists in labo ratory medicine is mandatory for handling the increasing number and complex ity of laboratory tests, assuring the appropriateness of their request and utilization. In addition, the enormous increase in near-patient testing pro cedures claims for joint efforts to assure the quality of laboratory result s. The General Practitioner always has the responsibility to understand the relevance of a test result and, where appropriate, to investigate further or to refer, irrespective of where the test has been done, but laboratory c onsultation can assure a better utilization of laboratory services for impr oving patient outcomes. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rig hts reserved.