Our local GP visits the home every two weeks and deals with non-urgent medical matters during his round and we have found this to be a very effective way of maintaining good continuity of care for all of our residents. We do not, however, have the authority to insist on extra visits except in the case of a medical emergency and although in many cases relatives feel a medical matter is very urgent the GP is the ultimately the only professional qualified to make that decision and does so by liaising directly with our care team.