New research indicates that regularly seeing the same GP could reduce workload in practices and hospitals, potentially freeing up appointments for patients.
The study was conducted by Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, the University of Exeter Medical School and St Leonard's Practice in Exeter. The research focuses on continuity of care – whether there's any benefit from patients seeing the same GP at most of their appointments. This continuity has been steadily decreasing in patient care since 2012, and increasingly patients see multiple GPs within a practice, or temporarily placed GPs, known as locums.
Now, the new research, published in the British Journal of General Practice, suggests seeing the same GP results in fewer follow-up appointments, both in practices and in A&E departments of hospitals.
The research analysed the Clinical Practice Research Datalink, which contains anonymised data from 222 practices across England spanning 2015 to 2017. In the study, researchers looked at patients who were initially seen for appointments that did not relate to long-term conditions. The researchers looked at how they were followed up over time. They split GPs into three categories: the patients' regular GPs with whom the patient had continuity, all other practice GPs without continuity with the patient, and GP locums. Between these three categories, they compared the time to the next consultation, plus hospital usage after the appointment. Locums often see more on-the-day patients so for a fair comparison, this study only looked at consultations in which the GP prescribed antibiotics.
The research team made adjustments to account for factors including the patients' age and number of overlapping conditions. They found that patients who saw the same GP regularly had a longer time before their next consultation – an average of 61 days, compared with 56 for any other GP, meaning fewer consultations were needed in the practice.
The team also found that patients seeing their regular GP were less likely (22 percent for non-regular GPs and 30 percent for locums) to attend emergency departments in the same week and were also significantly more likely to be referred to a specialist.
Professor Stefan Scholtes from Cambridge Judge Business School said: "We know that patients are having difficulties in getting GP appointments, and we're seeing long waiting times at A&E departments. It's encouraging that this research shows that if general practices help patients to see their regular GP more often, fewer consultations and attendances at emergency departments are needed overall. Making efforts for patients to see the same GP regularly could help patients by reducing pressure in both general practices and emergency departments."
Professor Philip Evans from the University of Exeter and the St Leonard's Research Practice, Exeter, said: "Our previous research has indicated that seeing the same GP regularly is linked to numerous patient benefits, including fewer hospitalisations and risk of death, and better care for people with dementia. At a time when workload is probably the biggest problem facing general practices, it's promising to find a research-based way of working which can reduce overall practice workload."
The study is entitled 'Continuity and locum use for acute consultations: observational study of subsequent workload' and is published in the British Journal of General Practice.
