MORE should be done to counter negative press about GP services in the UK, according to Oxford University researchers.

A study of over 500 articles on general practice and hospitals showed a service 'in crisis', with low morale and high burnout.

GP services were depicted as being rapidly eroded as a result of privatisation and fragmentation, with the doctors them selves portrayed as responsible for the crisis, however, while hospitals were also illustrated as under pressure, this crisis was depicted as being the fault of the government.

Authors Eleanor Barry and Prof Trish Greenhalgh Oxford University's Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences say in the paper: "To counter the depiction in the mainstream media of general practice as disorganised and inefficient, realistic messages about the funding crisis in general practice need to be conveyed.

"In addition, the reorganisation of primary care services to compensate for the worsening shortage of GPs could and should be depicted in a more positive light,”