ArticleQuality & safety in health care2007
Exploring users' experiences of accessing out-of-hours primary medical care services.
Article in Quality & safety in health care, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Factors affecting communication during telephone triage in medical call centres: a mixed methods systematic review.Systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Exploring demographic and lifestyle associations with patient experience following telephone triage by a primary care doctor or nurse: secondary analyses from a cluster randomised controlled trial.BMJ quality & safety · 2015Trial
- Recruiting older people at nutritional risk for clinical trials: what have we learned?BMC research notes · 2015Trial
- Health care pathways described by care-seekers following a call to the emergency medical communication center-A Swedish perspective.PloS one · 2025Article
- What's been tried: a curated catalogue of efforts to improve access to general practice.BJGP open · 2025Article
- A conceptual model of urgent care sense-making and help-seeking: a qualitative interview study of urgent care users in England.BMC health services research · 2019Article
- The Patient Experiences Questionnaire for Out-of-Hours Care (PEQ-OHC): data quality, reliability, and validity.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2010Article
- Out-of-hours care: do we?The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2010Article
- Streamline triage and manage user expectations: lessons from a qualitative study of GP out-of-hours services.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2010Article
- Strategies for improving patient recruitment to focus groups in primary care: a case study reflective paper using an analytical framework.BMC medical research methodology · 2009Article
- The GP Patient Survey for use in primary care in the National Health Service in the UK--development and psychometric characteristics.BMC family practice · 2009Article
- The rise of the medical McJob: why we should turn the clock back.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2009Article
- A qualitative examination of inappropriate hospital admissions and lengths of stay.BMC health services research · 2009Article
- Users' reports and evaluations of out-of-hours health care and the UK national quality requirements: a cross sectional study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2009Article
- Capturing users' experience of UK out-of-hours primary medical care: piloting and psychometric properties of the Out-of-hours Patient Questionnaire.Quality & safety in health care · 2007Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSince 2000, out-of-hours primary medical care services in the UK have undergone major changes in the organisation and delivery of services in response to recommendations by the Carson Review and more recently, through the new General Medical Services Contract (GMS2). People calling their general practice in the evening or at weekends are redirected to the out-of-hours service which may offer telephone advice, a home visit or a visit to a treatment centre. Little is known about users' experiences under the new arrangements.
aimTo explore users' experiences of out-of-hours primary medical care. DESIGN OF STUDY: A qualitative study employing focus groups and telephone interviews.
settingThree out-of-hours primary medical care service providers in England.
methodsFocus groups and telephone interviews were conducted with 27 recent users of out-of-hours services.
resultsKey areas of concern included the urgency with which cases are handled, and delays when waiting for a call back or home visit. Users felt that providers were reluctant to do home visits. The service was regarded as under-resourced and frequently misused. Many expressed anxiety about calling, feeling unsure about how appropriate their call was and many were uncertain about how the service operated.
conclusionsService users need clear information on how current out-of-hours services operate and how it should be used. Problems with triaging need to be addressed, users should be kept informed of any delays, and care needs to be taken to ensure that the new arrangements do not alienate older people or individuals with complex health needs.
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What 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.