how well prepared are general practitioners?
CONTEXT: General practitioners (GPs) and generalist hospital doctors provide the majority of palliative and terminal care in the UK. Studies have revealed problems with symptom control and communication in these settings and inadequate training for clinical students and junior doctors. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the training of GPs in Wales in palliative medicine throughout their careers, with a focus on the Welsh Valleys, an area of social deprivation and high levels of chronic ill health. To compare these data with those previously obtained from a survey of GPs in East Anglia. To develop regression models that enable the prediction of less well trained medical students and GPs. METHODS: A postal questionnaire survey of a random sample of GPs, stratified by practice location (Valleys or elsewhere in Wales). Responders were invited to recall their training in five topics of palliative care (pain control, other symptom control, use of syringe drivers, communication skills and bereavemen
