Patient-perceived benefits of and barriers to using out-of-hours primary care centres
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The rapid growth of GP co-operatives has encouraged the development of primary care centres, but little is known about patients' views and experiences of these new forms of out-of-hours service delivery. OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to understand patients' views, expectations and experiences of attending an out-of-hours primary care centre which was part of an inner London GP co-operative. METHODS: Systematic samples of patients using the out-of-hours service received semi-structured interviews covering the decision to contact the service, expectations and experience of the service and, if relevant, the experience of travelling to the primary care centre. Interviews were conducted by telephone between 7 and 10 days after patient contact. RESULTS: Interviews were completed with 55.4% (72/130) of sampled patients who were primary care centre attenders, 50.0% (47/94) of those receiving telephone advice and 45.3% (53/117) of those receiving a home visit. Most attenders of the primary care centre said that they were satisfied with the consultation (90.0%, 65) and were able to get all the help they needed (83%, 60). The speed of being seen and the opportunity of having a face-to-face consultation were key benefits identified. For some, this outweighed difficulties experienced in attending the centre, including arranging transport, caring for other children, managing several children on the journey and travelling while ill. The main barriers patients identified for not wanting to attend the primary care centre included feeling too ill to travel, having other dependants to care for or lacking transportation. CONCLUSIONS: While primary care centres offer patients speedy access to face-to-face consultations, there are a range of obstacles which are encountered. Those who are socially disadvantaged appear likely to experience greatest difficulty, raising concerns about equity in access to services. Out-of-hours services may need to give consideration to patient transport and a more flexible approach to visiting at home if such inequities are to be avoided.
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A key practical resource that impacts on the ability to seek care for the socio-economically disadvantaged is transport.
“A key practical resource that impacts on the ability to seek care for the socio-economically disadvantaged, for example, is transport [44,47,48].”
From Conducting a critical interpretive synthesis of the literature on access to healthcare by vulnerable groups (2006) · cites this paper as [48]
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- Authors
- Shipman, C., Payne, F., Dale, J., & Jessopp, L.
- Affiliations
- King's College Hospital (GB)
- University of Warwick (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Shipman, C.
- ORCID
- Dale, J.
- Venue
- Family Practice
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2001-04-01
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 149-155
- ISSN
- 0263-2136 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2229
- OpenAlex
- W1972374985
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2021: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 0.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Family Practice (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Emergency Medicine › Emergency and Acute Care Studies
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Primary Care and Health Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Patient Satisfaction in Healthcare
- Keywords
- out-of-hours primary care, primary care centres, patient satisfaction, patient experience, access barriers, patient transport, home visits, telephone advice, social deprivation, equitable access, inner London
- MeSH terms
- Female, United Kingdom, Health Services Accessibility, Humans, Male, Office Visits, Practice Patterns, Physicians', Primary Health Care, Quality of Health Care, State Medicine, Chi-Square Distribution, Patient Satisfaction
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