TY - JOUR T1 - Home visiting: the part played by the 'intermediary' JF - The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners JO - J R Coll Gen Pract SP - 137 LP - 142 VL - 29 IS - 200 AU - Andrew J. M. Bailey Y1 - 1979/03/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/29/200/137.abstract N2 - Home visits are usually initiated by someone other than the patient, whom we have called the `intermediary'. It is seldom an objective decision on the part of the intermediary that a home visit is needed and is usually the result of his or her own anxieties. It is therefore important for the doctor consciously to aim at a diagnosis or formulation of the problems of the intermediary, and it may then become possible deliberately to help him or her with his needs and anxieties. If these are not considered, the strains or dissatisfaction of the intermediary which initiated the visit are likely to remain, and to influence both the way the doctor treats the patient and the doctor's sense of competence. ER -