TY - JOUR T1 - Family breakdown — how important is it for British general practice? JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 558 LP - 559 VL - 54 IS - 504 AU - Jenny Wilson Y1 - 2004/07/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/54/504/558.abstract N2 - I write in response to the article by Emyr Gravell in the Back pages of the BJGP, April 2004, ‘How to save your marriage’.1 I appreciate his humour, and many of his suggestions in the light of modern day general practice are perhaps quite reasonable. The marriage partnership, like general practice partnership is tough, and perhaps the government should be looking to control it in the same way that they are looking to control us as GPs. Why shouldn't those in partnership with each other be treated the same, whether the partnership be in marriage or with the NHS, as all of our relationships have an impact on society.The article set me thinking about a talk I did recently, ‘Building stronger relationships for a better community — what has this got to do with doctors?’ Many GPs are probably quite unaware of the magnitude of the impact that family breakdown has on us both financially and on our daily workloads, even when we ourselves are happily married.In preparation for the talk I discovered some most alarming statistics, many of which I wanted to brush under the carpet and forget, but, as in our consultations, unless we start to address the tough issues they just get larger. Many of them hit a personal note: we are not immune from relationship problems ourselves as GPs and perhaps even more prone as we take on others' burdens. I don't want to depress you, and in sharing some of what I have learned hope that we can start to see a way forward out of the mire. I also fully accept that I am biased and pro marriage.Statistically it has been shown that couples who commit to each other in marriage are far more likely to stay together than … ER -