Skip Navigation


Family Practice Advance Access originally published online on March 18, 2005
Family Practice 2005 22(3):266-268; doi:10.1093/fampra/cmi006
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
22/3/266    most recent
cmi006v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Campbell, J. L
Right arrow Articles by Harvey, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Campbell, J. L
Right arrow Articles by Harvey, K.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author (2005). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org

Forty-eight hour access to primary care: practice factors predicting patients' perceptions

John L Campbella, Jean Ramsayb, Judith Greenc and Kate Harveyd

a Peninsula Medical School, Exeter, b Barts and the London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, London E1 4NS, c Senior Lecturer in Medical Sociology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London and d Department of General Practice and Primary Care, GKT School of Medicine, Kings College, London, UK

Correspondence to Professor JL Campbell, Professor of General Practice and Primary Care, Peninsula Medical School, Exeter EX2 5DW, UK; Email: john.campbell{at}pms.ac.uk

Background. The government has proposed a 48-hour target for GP availability. Although many practices are moving towards delivering that goal, recent national patient surveys have reported a deterioration in patients' reports of doctor availability. What practice factors contribute to patients' perceptions of doctor availability?

Method. A cross sectional patient survey (11 000 patients from 54 inner London practices, 7247 (66%) respondents) using the General Practice Assessment Survey. We asked patients how soon they could be seen in their practice following non-urgent consultation requests and related their aggregated responses to the characteristics of their practice.

Results. Three factors relating to practice administration and appointments systems operation independently predicted patients' reports of doctor availability. These were the proportion of patients asked to attend the surgery and wait to be seen, the proportion of patients seen using an emergency surgery arrangement, and the extent of practice computerization.

Conclusion. Some practices may have difficulty in meeting the target for GP availability. Meeting the target will involve careful review of practice administrative procedures.

Keywords. Access, administration, appointments, availability, General Practice Assessment Questionnaire, primary care, survey.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.