ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2001
An exploration of the value of the personal doctor-patient relationship in general practice.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2001. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 77 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
77 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Access or continuity: a zero sum game? A systematic review of the literature examining the relationship between access and continuity in primary healthcare.BMC primary care · 2025Pooled it
- The nature of informational continuity of care in general practice.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2008Pooled it
- Walk-in centres in primary care: a review of the international literature.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2003Pooled it
- The Impact of Web-Based Ratings on Patient Choice of a Primary Care Physician Versus a Specialist: Randomized Controlled Experiment.Journal of medical Internet research · 2019Trial
- The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Shaping the Doctor-Patient Relationship: A Narrative Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Impact of the Family Doctor Contracting System on unmet healthcare needs in Shandong Province, China.Health policy and planning · 2026Article
- Navigating the doctor-patient-AI relationship - a mixed-methods study of physician attitudes toward artificial intelligence in primary care.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Immigrant, Refugee, and Indigenous Canadians' Experiences With Virtual Health Care Services: Rapid Review.JMIR human factors · 2023Review
- Improved access to and continuity of primary care after attachment to a family physician: longitudinal cohort study on centralized waiting lists for unattached patients in Quebec, Canada.BMC primary care · 2022Observational
- Personal responsibility for health? A phenomenographic analysis of general practitioners' conceptions.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2021Article
- Life-sustaining treatment preferences in older patients when referred to the emergency department for acute geriatric assessment: a descriptive study in a Dutch hospital.BMC geriatrics · 2021Article
- Exploring the psychometric properties of the Working Alliance Inventory in general practice: a cross-sectional study.BJGP open · 2021Article
- A method for measuring continuity of care in day-to-day general practice: a quantitative analysis of appointment data.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2019Article
- Advance care planning conversations with palliative patients: looking through the GP's eyes.BMC family practice · 2018Article
- Cross-cultural adaptation of the Patient-Doctor Relationship Questionnaire (PDRQ-9) in Brazil.Revista de saude publica · 2018Article
- Empirical treatment of tuberculosis: TB or not TB?BMJ case reports · 2018Article
- Validity evidence for the Hamburg multiple mini-interview.BMC medical education · 2018Article
- Relational continuity with primary and secondary care doctors: a qualitative study of perceptions of users of the Catalan national health system.BMC health services research · 2018Article
- Article
- Association between continuity of care in Swedish primary care and emergency services utilisation: a population-based cross-sectional study.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2017Article
17 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWithin the context of general practice, continuity of care creates an opportunity for a personal doctor-patient relationship to develop which has been associated with significant benefits for patients and general practitioners (GPs). Continuity of care is, however, threatened by trends in the organisational development of primary health care in the United Kingdom and its intrinsic role within general practice is currently the subject of debate.
aimsTo determine how many patients report having a personal doctor and when this is most valued, to compare the value of a personal doctor-patient relationship with that of convenience, and to relate these findings to a range of patient, GP, and practice variables. DESIGN OF STUDY: Cross sectional postal questionnaire study.
settingNine hundred and ninety-six randomly selected adult patients from a stratified random sample of 18 practices and 284 GP principals in Oxfordshire.
methodQualitative interviews with patients and GPs were conducted and used to derive a parallel patient and GP questionnaire. Each patient (100 from each practice) was invited to complete a questionnaire to evaluate their experience and views concerning personal care. All GP principals currently practising in Oxfordshire were sent a similar questionnaire, which also included demographic variables.
resultsOverall, 75% of patients reported having at least one personal GP. The number of patients reporting a personal GP in each practice varied from 53% to 92%. Having a personal doctor-patient relationship was highly valued by patients and GPs, in particular for more serious, psychological and family issues when 77-88% of patients and 80-98% of GPs valued a personal relationship more than a convenient appointment. For minor illness it had much less value.
conclusionsPatients and GPs particularly value a personal doctor-patient relationship for more serious or for psychological problems. Whether a patient has a personal GP is associated with their perception of its importance and with factors which create an opportunity for a relationship to evolve.
Indexed as
Identifiers
11593831PMC1314098What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.