QUERCC

Quantifying, Understanding and Enhancing Relational Continuity
of Care

What is Relational Continuity of Care?

The study has five steps

In the first phase we will hold two workshops to develop a shared understanding of what RCC means and how we can best measure it. The workshops will bring together three groups of participants: patients, clinicians (doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists) and researchers interested in RCC. We will use the findings from the workshops to inform the next steps of our study. 

Second, we will analyse data from a large selection of general practices to look at how staff turnover, part-time working, practice size and funding per patient affect RCC in different general practices. From this work we will also see which practices have unusually high RCC.

Third, we will conduct case studies in a selection of general practices with unusually high RCC. The case studies will identify how these general practices achieve their high RCC and which things helped or hindered them in doing so. We will also find out if there are any drawbacks to achieving high RCC.

Patients who have higher RCC seems to have better health, fewer hospital admissions and may visit their GP less frequently. Using data from a large selection of general practices, we will estimate the costs of providing RCC, the cost-savings linked to higher RCC and the health benefits of providing higher RCC.  The economic analysis will show whether providing higher RCC is a more efficient way to offer care. It will also show if RCC is more important for some patient groups, such as those who are older, from more deprived areas or who have long-term health conditions.

Near the end of the study, we will hold two workshops to develop practical guidance to help General Practices improve continuity of care. The workshops will include patients, clinicians and researchers.  By including members of organisations such as the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and patient representatives we will ensure our guidance is relevant and practical for General Practitioners and for patients. 

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