Over the past 15 years there have been numerous reports on the use of diagnostic radiology by general practitioners (see all references listed). Principally, these have been concerned with four broad topics: the availability of radiodiagnostic services to general practitioners; the incidence of referral and factors affecting it; the resultant workload created for departments of radiology; and the incidence of reported abnormality. This literature, however, has left unanswered several important questions: (1) In what ways do referrals from general practice differ from those requested by outpatient departments? (2) What processes are involved in the general practitioner's referrals: What aims does he have in mind? Is he precipitate in referring patients? Are referred patients examined appropriately before referral? What are the standards of his referral requests? (3) What benefits of such referrals are there for patient, doctor and Health Service? The present study attempts to answer these questions.