In the early 1970s general practitioners were well aware that they were being asked to deal not only with physical illness in their patients but also with the stresses relating to social and emotional problems. Increasingly often they were working together with health visitors and social workers in attempting to respond more effectively to these demands.

Originally published in 1972, this study describes the attachment of a social worker to a group general medical practice in London, indicating why, for all social groups, the general practice is an appropriate point at which psychosocial problems may be identified and treated. The authors describe the nature and range of patients’ problems that come to light in the consulting room; how patients present their problems to the social worker; and the kind of help the social worker is able to offer. They explore the extent to which the general practice setting provides opportunities for preventive therapy and further describe how social work in general practice can most effectively be related to existing social services in the community, particularly to the reorganised personal social services. Their findings are supported throughout by illuminating case studies. The book also discusses the integration of the social worker into the general practice team, the problems that have to be solved and the mutual enlightenment that results.

This emerges as an extremely encouraging and instructive experiment, which will immediately interest social service departments and social workers, doctors and nurses, both students and those in practice. The wide spectrum of social problems encountered and dealt with by the social worker in a general practice make it a particularly stimulating account.