Glossary
This analysis and the questionnaire on which it is based,
was written from a UK viewpoint, with a UK audience in mind.
The majority of the e-mail correspondence we receive is
from UK residents. There is however, a significant minority
of correspondents, mostly but not exclusively, from English-speaking
countries, for whom some of the job-titles may be obscure.
For those people we offer this table:
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GP
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General Practitioner. Fully trained and qualified
medical doctor who provides first line, community-based
healthcare.
GP's are permitted to prescribe most drugs. Access
to other resources of the NHS (specialists, consultants
and hospital care) is invariably by referral from
a GP.
Qualifying as a GP takes ~7 years.
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Midwife
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To qualify as a midwife takes three or more years
of training in all aspects of pregnancy, child delivery
and immediate after-care. Some midwives are also registered
nurses.
Apart from doctors, midwives are the only people
qualified to deliver babies in the UK.
Some midwives are attached to hospitals, whilst others
operate in the community. Community midwives spend
most of their time providing ante- and immediate post-natal
care either at clinics or in the home.
Some low risk mothers choose to have their babies
delivered in the home, by the community midwife.
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Health Visitor (HV)
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A fully qualified nurse, many with obstetric experience,
who has spent a year in college-based study, learning
how to provide community-based, preventative health
care to the most vulnerable members of society. A
qualified health visitor will have spent up to five
years in training.
The Health Visitor's primary responsibility is the
health and well-being of very young children and their
mothers. The Health Visitor has a legal duty to visit
all children in the home in order to assess their
development on behalf of the state.
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NHS
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UK National Health Service. Provides health care
that is free at the point of delivery.
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