Previous research has shown that mental disorder in the community has remained fairly constant over the past 30 years. As a result there has been a shift in mental health care from primary care to specialised mental health care. This shift should be visible in higher referral figures from general practice. In this longitudinal analysis of mental health referrals (1971 to 1997), the authors aime...

OBJECTIVE Evidence regarding the benefits of strong primary care has influenced health policy and practice. This study focuses on changes in the breadth of services provided by general practitioners (GPs) in Europe between 1993 and 2012 and offers possible explanations for these changes. DESIGN Data on the breadth of service profiles were used from two cross-sectional surveys in 28 countries:...

Primary health care (PHC) reforms focus on improving access to and effectiveness of general practice services, with greater emphasis on health promotion, prevention and chronic disease management, and integration with population health approaches. Currently, reforms are often based on scant evidence from the most accessible and easily known PHC domains and activities, yet most PHC is complex an...

BACKGROUND In 2001, the New Zealand government introduced its Primary Health Care Strategy (PHCS), aimed at strengthening the role of primary health care, in order to improve health and to reduce inequalities in health. As part of the Strategy, new funding was provided to reduce the fees that patients pay when they use primary health care services in New Zealand, to improve access to services a...

BACKGROUND Health organisations continually seek good output indicators of family medicine health care provision because they are accountable to society, they need to compare services, and need to evaluate the impact of organisational reforms. OBJECTIVES Using the sources of information routinely available in health-service management, we sought to assess the groups of components of primary h...

The importance of primary health care (PHC) research is well understood yet conducting this research can be challenging. Barriers include a lack of funding, support and opportunity. In 2000 the Australian government introduced the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development (PHCRED) Strategy to address the gap in high-quality research. One component of the strategy, the Research Ca...

BACKGROUND Multimorbidity has been defined as the co-existence of two or more chronic conditions. It has a profound impact on both the individuals affected and on their use of healthcare services. The limited research to date has focused on its epidemiology rather than the development of interventions to improve outcomes in multimorbidity patients, particularly for patients aged less than 65 ye...

Background. The contributions of patients’ opinions to the evaluation of health care is widely acknowledged. This study investigates whether the patients of a fundholding practice perceived any changes in the services offered. Aim. To examine the effect of general practice fundholding on patient satisfaction with both primary and secondary care services. Method. In April 1992, questionnaires we...

BACKGROUND The organization and management of general practice is changing as a result of government policies designed to expand primary health care services. One aspect of practice management which has been underresearched concerns staffing: the recruitment, retention, management and motivation of practice managers. AIM A study set out to find out who is routinely involved in making decision...

The aim of the study was to investigate patient satisfaction with nurses and general practice organization in Croatia. A total of 2,252 patients 18 years of age and over from 47 randomly selected general practices were included in the study. 72.1% of patients were satisfied with nurses and general practice organization. Older and less educated patients were generally more satisfied. Patients we...