Abstract
Twenty five years ago, in February 2001, the Labour government released its Primary Health Care Strategy. Its intent was that primary health services should focus on delivering better health for a population and actively work to reduce health inequalities. The strategy recognised that to achieve this goal services needed to be delivered by newly created networks of primary health providers (Primary Health Organisations), and that general practice needed to move from a fee-for-service model to capitation funding for an enrolled population. Further, care itself needed to shift from a uni-professional focus (doctors as principal providers) to one being delivered by multidisciplinary teams – a move from general practice to primary health care (PHC). For, as the strategy noted, ‘no single practitioner or type of practitioner can meet people’s needs completely. A range of practitioners with the skills to communicate and collaborate in the patient’s interest are needed.’1 It is therefore very timely that this issue of the journal has a strong focus on the importance of interprofessional collaborative practice and presents research from a broad range of PHC disciplines, notably from pharmacy and nursing.