The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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Two general practices close every week in the UK. Given the pressure on UK general practices, such closures are likely to persist. Yet little is known about the consequences. Closure refers to when a practice ceases to exist, merges, or is taken over. ⋯ Higher exposure to closure led to larger practice sizes in remaining practices. Closure of practices changes workforce composition and reduces patient satisfaction with services.
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NHS England have announced plans to enable all adult patients to have full prospective access to their primary care record by default. Despite this, little is known about the views and experiences of primary care staff regarding patients' online records access (ORA). ⋯ Participants acknowledged that ORA may transform the purpose and function of the record and that ORA has potential to instigate a significant cultural shift in primary care, changing how staff work and relate to patients. This underlines the need for additional staff training and support to expand capability and capacity to adapt practice and enhance patient engagement with, and understanding of, their health records.
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Observational Study
Development of a modified Cambridge Multimorbidity Score for use with SNOMED CT: an observational English primary care sentinel network study.
People with multiple health conditions are more likely to have poorer health outcomes and greater care and service needs; a reliable measure of multimorbidity would inform management strategies and resource allocation. ⋯ This modified version of the Cambridge Multimorbidity Score allows reliable estimation using clinical terms that can be applied internationally across multiple healthcare settings.
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Priority patients in primary care include people from low-income, rural, or culturally and linguistically diverse communities, and First Nations people. ⋯ Many of the identified behaviour change tools were demonstrated to be effective at facilitating change in a target behaviour and/or feasible for use in practice. The tools varied across factors, such as the mode of delivery and the way the tool was intended to influence behaviour. There is clear opportunity to build on existing tools to enable family doctors to assist priority patients towards achieving healthier lifestyles.
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Anxiety is frequently encountered in general practice, but figures regarding prevalence and incidence in this healthcare setting remain scarce. ⋯ A significantly increasing prevalence and incidence of physician-registered anxiety was found in the study. Patients with anxiety tend to become more complex, with more comorbidities. Treatment for anxiety in Belgian primary care is very dependent on medication.