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Catchment areas: a model for the future or a relic of the past?

Division of Geriatric Medicine, St George's Hospital Medical School, Jenner Wing, Cranmer Terrace, Tooting, London SW17 0RE

The shift of power from specialist services to the primary care teams has forced the former to examine the value of their hallowed traditions. In psychiatry, and geriatric medicine, the catchment area is a favoured restrictive practice, enabling demand to be regulated to suit the resources of each team. It is time to decide whether this is a practice to be defended and retained or whether, like many other restrictive practices, it is harmful to the consumer.