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Whither medicine? The expansion of non-doctor practice

Martin B Van Der Weyden
Med J Aust 2010; 193 (11): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2010.tb04088.x
Published online: 6 December 2010

It is time for the medical profession to stand up

Some 60 years ago, Lord “Tommy” Horder, the doyen of British physicians of that time, addressed a meeting on the theme “Whither medicine?”.1 He suggested that a visitor from Mars would have found such a question incomprehensible and would have responded, “Why, whither else than straight ahead ...” It was a time when the role of doctors was unambiguous: to care for patients and draw upon their scientific and clinical training to promote the “forging [of] still more weapons with which to conquer disease ...”


  • The Medical Journal of Australia, Sydney, NSW.


Correspondence: medjaust@ampco.com.au

  • 1. Lord Horder. Whither medicine? Br Med J 1949; 1: 557-560.
  • 2. Coombes R. Dr Nurse will see you now. BMJ 2008; 337: a1522.
  • 3. Medicare Australia. Nurse practitioners and midwives. http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/provider/other-healthcare/nurse-midwives.jsp (accessed Nov 2010).
  • 4. Prescribing rights an affront [letters]. Australian Doctor 2010; 29 Oct: 23.
  • 5. Nurse rebate shows ignorance [letters]. Australian Doctor 2010; 22 Oct: 19.
  • 6. Frank JR, Jabbour M, Tugwell P, et al. Skills for the new millennium: report of the societal needs working group, CanMEDS 2000 Project. Ann R Coll Physicians Surg Can 1996; 29: 206-216.
  • 7. Godlee F. Understanding the role of the doctor [editorial]. BMJ 2008; 337: a3035.

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