This is a book that addresses the thorny problem of assessing quality in primary care. It is written in the UK for UK conditions and naturally focuses on NHS criteria. It is really a book about the quality of primary care delivery rather than the assessment of the quality of the care itself. It focuses on the ‘nuts and bolts’ – the immunization level of the practice, the record keeping, the standard of premises and access to them, the recall system, referral rates etc. The section on management policies, clinical governance and risk management has some peripheral application to New Zealand conditions but it is written for the NHS system. The chapter on IT and computerized systems is light years behind the technology we already have in this country.

This is a book that focuses on the quality of the ‘business’ side of primary care and says nothing about clinical aspects. Sometimes (but not always) one has little to do with the other. I do not recommend this book to general practitioners, but it has relevance to practice management and thus would help practice managers and administrators as well as IPA personnel.