Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31548353›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2019

The impact of a named GP scheme on continuity of care and emergency hospital admission: a cohort study among older patients in England, 2012-2016.

Peter Tammes, Rupert A Payne, Chris Salisbury, Melanie Chalder, Sarah Purdy, Richard W Morris

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
20citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Article
  4. Development of a novel GP continuity measurement for practices without personal lists: a two-practice pilot of the modified SLICC.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2026
    Article
  5. GP continuity of care can be regained: lessons from Finland.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2026
    Article
  6. Sustaining named GP continuity requires organisational change: a comparative implementation analysis in Finland.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2026
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Impact of changes in primary care attachment: a scoping review.Family medicine and community health · 2025
    Article
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  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Which methods are most practicable for measuring continuity within general practices?The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2023
    Article
  14. Continuity in general practice as predictor of mortality, acute hospitalisation, and use of out-of-hours care: a registry-based observational study in Norway.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2022
    Observational
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Peter TammesBristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences, Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK p.tammes@bristol.ac.uk.ORCID 0000-0001-7959-745X
Rupert A PayneBristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences, Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Chris SalisburyBristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences, Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-4378-3960
Melanie ChalderBristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences, Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Sarah PurdyBristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences, Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Richard W MorrisBristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences, Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo investigate whether the introduction of a named general practitioner (GP, family physician) improved patients' healthcare for patients aged 75 and over in England.

settingRandom sample of 27 500 patients aged 65 to 84 in 2012 within 139 English practices from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink linked with Hospital Episode Statistics.

designProspective cohort approach, measuring patients' GP consultations and emergency hospital admissions 2 years before/after the intervention. Patients were grouped in (i) aged over 74 and (ii) younger than 75 in both periods in order to compare who were or were not subject to the intervention. Adjusted associations between the named GP scheme, continuity of care and emergency hospital admission were examined using multilevel modelling.

interventionNational Health Service policy to introduce a named accountable GP for patients aged over 74 in April 2014.

main outcome measures(A) Continuity of care index-score, (B) risk of emergency hospital admissions, (C) number of emergency hospital admissions.

resultsThe intervention was associated with a decrease in continuity index-scores of -0.024 (95% CI -0.030 to -0.018, p<0.001); there were no differences in the decrease between the two age groups (-0.005, 95% CI -0.014 to 0.005). In the pre-intervention and post-intervention periods, respectively, 15.4% and 19.4% patients had an emergency admission. The probability of an emergency hospital admission increased after the intervention (OR 1.156, 95% CI 1.064 to 1.257, p=0.001); this increase was bigger for patients over 74 (relative OR 1.191, 95% CI 1.066 to 1.330, p=0.002). The average number of emergency hospital admissions increased after the intervention (rate ratio (RR) 1.178, 95% CI 1.103 to 1.259, p<0.001); this increase was greater for patients over 74 (relative RR 1.143, 95% CI 1.052 to 1.242, p=0.001).

conclusionThe introduction of the named GP scheme was not associated with improvements in either continuity of care or rates of unplanned hospitalisation.

Indexed as

General PractitionersAgedAged, 80 and overContinuity of Patient CareEmergency Service, HospitalEnglandFemaleHealth PolicyHumansMalePatient AdmissionProspective StudiesQuality ImprovementRiskState Medicinehealth policyorganisation of health servicesprimary carepublic healthresearch methodsstatistics &amp

Identifiers

PMID31548353
PMCPMC6773345

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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.