By Professor Denis Pereira Gray, OBE
President of the Royal College of General Practitioners

ONE OF THE CONSEQUENCES of the ever more complex society in which we all find ourselves is the increasing need felt by many people for more flexible systems and more flexible structures to accommodate a variety of personal and professional pressures. Doctors are no exception to the trends in general society and always reflect them. As society becomes more pluralistic and less structured so there are a variety of changes: national rise in self-employed status, the contracting out of what used to be regarded as core governmental functions and the appearance of short-term contracts and greater mobility. All these raise questions about the working arrangements of citizens in general and of doctors in particular.

There has always been a group of doctors who chose not to enter long-term partnership arrangements, but wanted to work in more flexible structures. Locums, assistants and what are increasingly often known as non-principals, are an important group. So great have their numbers recently become that they have formed their own association and properly attained representation within organisations like the General Medical Services Committee. Non-principals now form a significant proportion of general practitioners and have a variety of motivations. Some are simply wishing to gain additional experience, others are working for higher professional qualifications, some are fulfilling domestic commitments and others just want more time before they settle into a major professional contract.

Whatever the reasons for non-principals it is clear they need information, encouragement and support as a group of colleagues who have specific needs but who in the past have not always had them adequately met. The emergence of the non-principals' national group has inevitably led to the first handbook for non-principals. This has been masterminded by Shaun O'Connell, an elected member of the Council of the Royal College of General Practitioners and brings together a whole range of information which is presented in a clear and simple way.

It is a pleasure to write a preface for this book which I hope will be an important contribution to this post-modern development. (Hodgkin, 1996).

Denis Pereira Gray
General Practitioner, Exeter
Professor of General Practice, University of Exeter
March 1998

NASGP  Index  Previous Chapter  Next Chapter