ArticleBMJ quality & safety2026
Less continuity with more complaints: a repeated cross-sectional study of the association between relational continuity of care and patient complaints in English general practice.
Article in BMJ quality & safety, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Experiences of access to general practice in England: qualitative study and implications for the NHS 10 year plan.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveRelational continuity of care is associated with better patient experience and health outcomes. In England, relational continuity of primary care has been declining over a decade, coinciding with an increase in patient complaints. This study investigates the relationship between relational continuity of care and patient complaints.
methodsCross-sectional analysis of linked practice-level data in the English National Health Service (NHS) (2016/2017-2022/2023) obtained from NHS Digital and General Practice Patient Survey (GPPS). A negative binomial model was used to investigate the association between the proportion of patients never or almost never seeing their preferred general practitioner (GP) and new written complaints per 10 000 patients, with adjustment for patient demographics, socioeconomic status, care experiences, practice care capacity and care quality. Mediation analysis was further conducted to examine patients' lost trust and unmet clinical needs as potential mechanisms.
resultsA 10 percentage point increase in the proportion of patients reporting low continuity was associated with 1.34 more new complaints per 10 000 patients (95% CI 1.23 to 1.46). The association may be stronger after than before the pandemic, among general practices with historically better continuity, and in more deprived areas. The findings were robust in using different measures of relational continuity, adjusting for primary case demand-supply mismatches, implementing a Poisson model with practice fixed effects and excluding ethnicity from the model specification. Mediation analysis showed that neither lost trust nor unmet care needs were important mediators of the effects of low continuity.
conclusionSelf-reported low continuity of primary care is associated with more patient complaints in England. Future research should explore potential underlying mechanisms and establish whether the same relationship exists between objectively measured relational continuity and patient complaints.
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