ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2025
Addressing the inverse care law in Scottish general practice: systematic scoping review.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- "They are nae worrying about it… so …what's the point in asking?": A qualitative study of candidacy for early CKD care in areas of multiple deprivation.BMC nephrology · 2026Article
- Can we tackle the inverse care law in general practice?The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
backgroundRecent evidence demonstrates persistence of the inverse care law (ICL) in general practice in England. Although the ICL was well-described in Scotland 20 years ago, progress in interventions since then is unclear.
aimTo review national and local interventions that aimed to specifically address the ICL in Scottish general practice since 2000. DESIGN AND
settingThis was a systematic scoping review set in Scotland.
methodEmbase, Web of Science, PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane and BASE from 2000 to February 2024 were searched. A systematic grey literature search of government, NHS and third-sector websites was also performed. All papers were double screened for inclusion. Both quantitative and qualitative studies were included and quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute tools.
resultsOut of 13 089 results, 67 papers reporting on 20 interventions were included. Interventions to improve general practice in deprived areas were categorised as: (a) enhancing patients' financial or social support, (b) targeting specific health conditions, (c) targeting specific groups, and (d) enhancing generalist health care. Six interventions accounted for 66% (44/67) of all included papers. Only two interventions have been rolled out nationally - community link workers and welfare advice and health partnerships - with both facing uncertain long-term funding.
conclusionThere remains a major implementation gap between Scottish Government's policy ambitions to address health inequalities and sustainable delivery on the ground. To address the ICL, greater overall investment in general practice is needed, together with additional resources for more deprived areas according to local population need (a 'proportionate universalism' approach).
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