General practitioners

Medical career grades of the National Health Service

Year	Current (Modernising Medical Careers)		Previous
1	Foundation doctor (FY1 and FY2), 2 years		Pre-registration house officer (PRHO), 1 year
2			Senior house officer (SHO), minimum 2 years; often more
3	Specialty registrar, general practice (GPST), 3 years	Specialty registrar, hospital speciality (SpR), minimum 6 years
4			Specialist registrar, 4–6 years	GP registrar, 1 year
5				General practitioner, 4 years total time in training
6–8	General practitioner, 5 years total time in training
9		Consultant, minimum 8 years total time in training	Consultant, minimum 7–9 years total time in training
Optional	Training is competency based, times shown are a minimum. Training may be extended by obtaining an Academic Clinical Fellowship for research or by dual certification in another speciality.		Training may be extended by pursuing medical research (usually 2–3 years), usually with clinical duties as well

In the medical profession, a general practitioner (GP) is a medical doctor who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education to patients.

A general practitioner manages types of illness that present in an undifferentiated way at an early stage of development, which may require urgent intervention. The holistic approach of general practice aims to take into consideration the biological, psychological and social factors relevant to the care of each patient's illness. Their duties are not confined to specific organs of the body, and they have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues. They are trained to treat patients of any age and sex to levels of complexity that vary between countries.

The role of a GP can vary greatly between (or even within) countries. In urban areas of developed countries their roles tend to be narrower and focused on the care of chronic health problems; the treatment of acute non-life-threatening diseases; the early detection and referral to specialized care of patients with serious diseases; and preventative care including health education and immunization. Meanwhile, in rural areas of developed countries or in developing countries a GP may be routinely involved in pre-hospital emergency care, the delivery of babies, community hospital care and performing low-complexity surgical procedures. In some healthcare systems GPs work in primary care centers where they play a central role in the healthcare team, while in other models of care GPs can work as single-handed practitioners.

The term general practitioner or GP is common in the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom and several Commonwealth countries. In these countries the word physician is largely reserved for certain other types of medical specialists, notably in internal medicine. While in these countries, the term GP has a clearly defined meaning, in North America the term has become somewhat ambiguous, and is not necessarily synonymous with the term "family doctor" or primary care provider, as described below.

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