The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Prostate-specific antigen testing and opportunistic prostate cancer screening: a cohort study in England, 1998-2017.
Prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer- related death. Interpreting the results from trials of screening with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is complex in terms of defining optimal prostate cancer screening policy. ⋯ A substantial number of men in England opt in to opportunistic prostate cancer screening, despite uncertainty regarding its efficacy and harms. The rate of opportunistic prostate cancer screening in the population is likely to have contaminated the CAP trial, making it difficult to interpret the results.
-
Personalised care planning (PCP) interventions have the potential to provide better outcomes for older people and are a key focus in primary care practice. Behaviour change techniques (BCTs) can maximise effectiveness of such interventions, but it is uncertain which BCTs are most appropriate in PCP for older adults. ⋯ Future PCP interventions to improve QoL for people aged ≥65 years may benefit from focusing on six specific BCTs. Better reporting of BCTs would enhance future design and implementation of such interventions.
-
Acne is a common skin condition, affecting most adolescents at some point. While guidelines recommend topical treatments first-line, long courses of oral antibiotics are commonly prescribed. ⋯ GPs expressed uncertainty about the use of topical treatments for acne and either felt that treatments were of low effectiveness or perceived pressure from patients to prescribe oral antibiotics.
-
Missed appointments are common in primary care, contributing to reduced clinical capacity. NHS England has estimated that there are 7.2 million missed general practice appointments annually, at a cost of £216 million. Reducing these numbers is important for an efficient primary care sector. ⋯ Forward booking time in days is the best predictor of practice DNA rates. Sharing appointment data produced a significant reduction in missed appointments, and behaviour change interventions with patients had a modest additional impact; in contrast, introducing structural change to the appointment system effectively reduced DNA rates. To reduce non-attendance, it appears that the appointment system needs to change, not the patient.
-
Observational Study
Primary care consultation length by deprivation and multimorbidity in England: an observational study using electronic patient records.
Longer GP consultations are recommended as one way of improving care for people with multimorbidity. In Scotland, patients who are multimorbid and living in deprived areas do not have longer consultations, although their counterparts in the least deprived areas do. This example of the inverse care law has not been examined in England. ⋯ GPs in England spend longer with patients who have more conditions, but, at all multimorbidity levels, those in deprived areas have less time per GP consultation. Further research is needed to assess the impact of consultation length on patient and system outcomes for those with multimorbidity.