01.05.15
Private out-of-hours GP providers give worse care than NHS
Private providers of out-of-hours GP services in England deliver poorer care than NHS or not-for-profit alternatives, new research has found.
Researchers at the University of Exeter Medical School examined 900,000 responses to the 2012/13 GP Patient Survey on GP care provided outside of the working week.
They found that NHS providers scored highest on timeliness, patient confidence in doctors, and overall care experience.
NHE reported last week that another study from Imperial College London found that private providers of in-hours GP services performed worse than traditional GP practices.
The new study, published in the BMJ, also gave a score out of 100 for overall experience: the ratings were:
- 73 for the NHS
- 72 for not-for profit
- 69 for the commercial sector
While patient satisfaction with commercial providers was clearly lowest, the reasons were unclear.
Professor John Campbell, who led the study, said: “There are variations and examples of good practice among all providers, but the overall trend is that patients report less positive experiences with commercial providers.”
The researchers also found that patients of mixed ethnicity and Asian ethnicity reported poorer care for all three questions than white respondents.
They suggested this could be because of differences in cultural attitudes regarding an acceptable waiting time.
Those who were unable to take time away from work to attend their practice also gave lower scores for all three questions than those for whom this was not an issue.
“Commercial providers of out-of-hours GP care were associated with poorer experience of care,” the study concluded. “Targeted interventions aimed at improving experience for patients from ethnic minorities and patients who are unable to take time away from work might be warranted.”
But the team also said that although the lower scores of private providers could be because they offer genuinely poorer care, alternatively it could be down to the willingness of commercial providers to provide care in areas deemed less attractive to the NHS or not-for-profit organisations.
Commenting on the study, BMA GP committee deputy chair, Dr Richard Vautrey, said: “There is evidence of a division in quality between OOH services that are developed from GP-led co-ops and those run by the private sector.
“The BMJ study chimes with the results of a recent BMA survey of over 15,500 GPs that found that only 5% of GPs felt that contracts run by commercial providers were value for money and just 8% believed they delivered good quality care.”
Tell us what you think – have your say below, or email us directly at [email protected]