ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2013
Operationalising unscheduled care policy: a qualitative study of healthcare professionals' perspectives.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 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.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Factors that influence family and parental preferences and decision making for unscheduled paediatric healthcare - systematic review.BMC health services research · 2020Pooled it
- Understanding access to general practice through the lens of candidacy: a critical review of the literature.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2024Review
- Stuff you think you can handle as a parent and stuff you can't'. Understanding parental health-seeking behaviour when accessing unscheduled care: A qualitative study.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2021Article
- Supporting patients with female genital mutilation in primary care: a qualitative study exploring the perspectives of GPs' working in England.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2020Article
- Reasons for Accident and Emergency department attendance by people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or heart failure: recipients and providers' perspectives. An exploratory study.BMJ open respiratory research · 2018Article
- Juggling confidentiality and safety: a qualitative study of how general practice clinicians document domestic violence in families with children.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2017Article
- Identifying seasonal and temporal trends in the pressures experienced by hospitals related to unscheduled care.BMC health services research · 2016Article
- Street-level bureaucracy: an underused theoretical model for general practice?The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2015Review
- Access to general practice in a time of austerity.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundUK health policy aims to reduce the use of unscheduled care, by increasing proactive and preventative management of patients with long-term conditions in primary care.
aimThe study explored healthcare professionals' understanding of why patients with long-term conditions use unscheduled care, and the healthcare professionals' understanding of their role in relation to reducing the use of unscheduled care. DESIGN AND
settingQualitative study interviewing different types of healthcare professionals providing primary care or unscheduled care services in northwest England.
methodSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 29 healthcare professionals (six GPs; five out-of-hours GPs; four emergency department doctors; two practice nurses; three specialist nurses; two district nurses; seven active case managers). Data were analysed using framework analysis.
resultsHealthcare professionals viewed the use of unscheduled care as a necessary component of care for patients with long-term conditions. Those whose roles involved working to targets to reduce the use of unscheduled care described a tension between this and delivering optimum patient care. Three approaches to reducing unscheduled care were described: optimising the system; negotiating the system; and optimising the patient.
conclusionCurrent policy to reduce the use of unscheduled care does not take account of the perceptions of the healthcare professionals who are expected to implement them. Lipsky's theory of street-level bureaucrats provides a framework to understand how healthcare professionals respond to imposed policies. Healthcare professionals did not see the use of unscheduled care as a problem and there was limited commitment to the policy targets. Therefore, policy should aim for whole-system change rather than reliance on individual healthcare professionals to make changes in their practice.
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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.