RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The changing pattern of general practitioner drug prescribing in the National Health Service in England from 1970 to 1975
JF The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
JO J R Coll Gen Pract
FD British Journal of General Practice
SP 406
OP 412
VO 29
IS 204
A1 Roy E. Mapes
A1 W. O. Williams
YR 1979
UL http://bjgp.org/content/29/204/406.abstract
AB We describe the changing pattern of general practitioner prescribing in the National Health Service in England between 1970 and 1975. The percentage increase in items of prescriptions had increased 10 times as much as the percentage increase in the population in the same period. One of the reasons given is that there may be a growing tendency to give a prescription when it would be better to give advice. The evidence seems to support other findings that the profession responds much more widely to reports on the good effects of a drug than it does to its adverse effects.