QUERCC
Quantifying, Understanding and Enhancing Relational Continuity
of Care
Saturday 29 June 2024
Dr Ben Allen, a GP partner in Sheffield, runs a podcast Reimagining General Practice where he presents stories of creativity, bravery and improvement that aims to challenge, equip and inspire hope those who are working in General Practice.
Friday 24 May 2024
Study finds suggestions to increase continuity of care fail to produce improvements
The study was conducted in 32 Dutch general practices and led by Professor Otto Maarsingh, who is a scientific advisor to the QUERCC study. Researchers offered general practices a list of 34 suggested strategies to help increase continuity of care. Continuity of care was assessed by asking a sample of 100 patients to complete the Nijmegen Continuity Questionnaire. After 18 months there were no significant improvements in continuity. The authors noted that the pandemic may have made it more difficult for practices to implement the strategies.
Wednesday 15 May 2024
Continuity Counts was a project funded by the Health Foundation and carried out by researchers: Professor Sir Denis Pereira Gray, Professor Philip Evans and Dr Kate Sidaway-Lee. Although the project has finished, its study website is still available and contains useful information on continuity of care.
The Health Foundation has a number of resources concerning continuity of care such as this article:
Measuring continuity of care in general practice
and in the past funded targeted quality improvement work to increase continuity in GP practices:
Tuesday 30 April 2024
One of UK political parties promises access to the same GP for patients over 70 years of age and those with chronic conditions as it is revealed that almost half of adults see a different doctor at each appointment.
The plan would require hiring additional 8,000 general practitioners, cost £1 billion a year and would take 4 years to be implemented. The party quote a study that indicates benefits stemming from continuity of care.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/29/lib-dems-pledge-access-to-same-named-gp-for-over-70s-and-long-term-sick
Friday 21 July 2023
Dr Ben Allen, a GP and clinical director for primary care in Sheffield, talks about improving continuity of care through training and empowering staff and better staff retention.
https://bjgp.org/content/72/718/229
https://medium.com/@BenAllenGP/irresistible-organisations-9f377c78bc41