Greater GP access: a panacea for rising A&E use?

Fiona MacKichanBy Fiona MacKichan
Lecturer in Medical Sociology
Centre for Academic Primary Care

GP access has become a focus of governmental response to rising A&E attendance. Outlining a ‘new deal for general practice’ on 19th June Jeremy Hunt cited safeguarding hospital capacity as a key driver for seven-day primary care access.

The logic is that a significant proportion of A&E visits are for problems that could be managed in primary care and lack of available GP appointments drives people to A&E.

Can greater GP access reduce A&E use? The answer seems to be probably, some of the time and in certain contexts. A recent systematic review by our team found an association between better primary care access and reduced A&E attendance in US and Canadian studies, but no clear association in European studies.

Using patient-reported data from the GP Patient Survey, Tom Cowling and colleagues found that a significant … Read more