ArticleBMC family practice2007
Quality in general practice consultations; a qualitative study of the views of patients living in an area of high socio-economic deprivation in Scotland.
Article in BMC family practice, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 107 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Effectiveness of empathy in general practice: a systematic review.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2013Pooled it
- Resources in vulnerable young adults: self-assessments during preventive consultation with their general practitioner in Denmark.Health promotion international · 2020Trial
- Observational
- Arts on prescription intervention for primary healthcare patients with poor mental health or social isolation: a mixed-method study.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Can a doctor be too old to practice medicine?Frontiers in health services · 2025Article
- What makes a good general practice consultation? An exploratory pilot study with people from a low socioeconomic background.BJGP open · 2024Article
- The relationship between relational continuity and family physician follow-up after an antidepressant prescription in older adults: a retrospective cohort study.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Observational
- Continuity of care as a predictor of ongoing frequent attendance in primary care: a retrospective cohort study.BJGP open · 2020Article
- Once is rarely enough: can social prescribing facilitate adherence to non-clinical community and voluntary sector health services? Empirical evidence from Germany.BMC public health · 2020Article
- What do consumers with chronic conditions expect from their interactions with general practitioners? A qualitative study of Australian consumer and provider perspectives.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2020Article
- Social Prescribing-An Effort to Apply a Common Knowledge: Impelling Forces and Challenges.Frontiers in public health · 2020Article
- Validation of the Patient Empowerment Strategies Questionnaire (PES-Q) in Greek adult patients with chronic insomnia: a pilot study on basic psychometric values.Primary health care research & development · 2019Article
- 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
- General practitioners' perspective on poverty: a qualitative study in Montreal, Canada.Family practice · 2018Article
- Managing barriers to empathy in the clinical encounter: a qualitative interview study with GPs.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2016Article
- The development and optimisation of a primary care-based whole system complex intervention (CARE Plus) for patients with multimorbidity living in areas of high socioeconomic deprivation.Chronic illness · 2016Article
- The Role of the Psychosocial Dimension in the Improvement of Quality of Care: A Systematic Review.Zdravstveno varstvo · 2016Review
- Measuring empathic, person-centred communication in primary care nurses: validity and reliability of the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) Measure.BMC family practice · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundInequality in health and health care services is an important policy issue internationally as well as in the UK, and is closely linked to socio-economic deprivation, which in Scotland is concentrated in and around Glasgow. Patients views on primary care in deprived areas are not well documented. In the present study we explore the views of patients living in a high deprivation area on the quality of consultations in general practice.
methodsQualitative focus group study set in an area of high socio-economic deprivation in a large peripheral housing estate in Glasgow, Scotland. 11 focus groups were conducted; 8 with local community groups and 3 with other local residents. In total 72 patients took part. Grounded theory was used to analyse the data.
resultsPatients' perceptions of the quality of the consultation with GPs consisted of two broad, inter-relating themes; (1) the GPs' competence, and (2) the GPs empathy or ' caring'. Competence was often assumed but many factors coloured this assumption, in particular whether patients had experienced (directly or indirectly with a close family member) 'successful' outcomes with that doctor previously or not. 'Caring' related to patients feeling (a) listened to by the doctor and being able to talk; (b) valued as an individual by the doctor (c) that the doctor understood 'the bigger picture', and (d) the doctors' explanations were clear and understandable. Relational continuity of care (being able to see the same GP and having a good relationship), and having sufficient time in the consultation were closely linked with perceptions of consultation quality.
conclusionPatients from deprived areas want holistic GPs who understand the realities of life in such areas and whom they can trust as both competent and genuinely caring. Without this, they may judge doctors as socially distant and emotionally detached. Relational continuity, empathy and sufficient time in consultations are key factors in achieving this.
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