Super-surgeries 'undermining patient-GP relationship'
Polyclinics and super-surgeries are likely to undermine the relationship between patients and GPs, a report finds
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Tuesday, 23, Sep 2008 08:46
Polyclinics and super-surgeries are likely to undermine trust and cooperation between patients and their GPs, a report claims.
The study, published in the British Journal of General Practice today, claims that changes to the delivery of primary care in the UK are likely to reduce the continuity in care as patients will be no longer be guaranteed to see the same doctor on every visit.
Carolyn Tarrant, from the University of Leicester, said: "The government is setting up numerous polyclinics, super-surgeries, and walk-in centres all over the country.
"I'm sure they will have various benefits for patients and GPs, but they are bound to reduce continuity of care, and our research shows that this may lead to a decline in patient trust. If patient trust declines, then medical outcomes may be adversely affected."
Today's report involved a survey carried out at three Leicestershire general practices, with a random sample of 279 primary care patients who had consulted their GPs over the previous two weeks questioned on their experiences of trust, interpersonal care, and continuity.
Patients' judgements of the GPs' interpersonal care, past experience of cooperation, and expectation of continuing care from the same GP were all found to be independent predictors of patient trust.
The authors conclude that their findings "highlight the value of continuity in GP-patient relationships".