The idea that GPs should act as advocates for their patients has found its way into a number of definitions of their role over the last 30 years. The potential tension between advocacy for the individual patient and a physician's wider societal responsibilities has also been recognised. It may well be that, as first-contact primary care becomes increasingly fragmented, with a concomitant reduction in personal continuity of care and in patients' and doctors' knowledge of each other, there is less expectation of personal advocacy on either side of the relationship. In this issue of the Journal we publish a number of striking articles which highlight aspects of the advocacy role of the primary care physician in a number of …