Comparing registered and resident populations in Primary Care Networks in England: an observational study

Abstract

BackgroundPrimary Care Networks (PCNs) were established in England in 2019 and will play a key role in providing care at a neighbourhood level within Integrated Care Systems (ICSs).AimTo identify PCN ‘catchment’ areas and compare the overlap between registered and resident populations of PCNs.Design & settingObservational study using publicly available data on the number of people within each Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) registered to each General Practice (GP) in England in April 2021.MethodLSOAs were assigned to the PCN to which the majority of residents were registered. The PCN catchment population was defined as the total number of people resident in all LSOAs assigned to that PCN. We compared PCN catchment populations to the population of people registered to a GP practice in each PCN.ResultsIn April 2021, 6,506 GP practices were part of 1,251 PCNs. 56.1% of PCNs had between 30,000 and 50,000 registered patients. There was a strong correlation (0.91) between the total registered population size and catchment population size. We found significant variation in the percentage of residents in each LSOA registered to a GP practice within the same PCN catchment, and strong associations with both urban-rural status and socioeconomic deprivation.ConclusionThere exists significant variation across England in the overlap between registered and resident (catchment) populations in PCNs which may impact on integration of care in some areas. There was less overlap in urban and more deprived areas which could exacerbate existing health inequalities.

Video consulting for GP trainees

“…Clinicians have reported that although many consultations can be safely managed by telephone, the remainder require in-person assessment, and both staff and patients have reported concerns about technological availability and skill (Greenhalgh et al, 2022). When used well, video consulting can overcome some of the drawbacks noted for telephone consulting, particularly around non-verbal communication and creating rapport (Donaghy et al, 2019;Payne and Clarke, 2023). For clinicians, these visual aspects may increase the quality and safety of consultations by allowing, for example, better checking of patient understanding, visual assessment of patients and better identification of safeguarding concerns (Atherton and Ziebland, 2016;Payne and Clarke, 2023).…”

“…When used well, video consulting can overcome some of the drawbacks noted for telephone consulting, particularly around non-verbal communication and creating rapport (Donaghy et al, 2019;Payne and Clarke, 2023). For clinicians, these visual aspects may increase the quality and safety of consultations by allowing, for example, better checking of patient understanding, visual assessment of patients and better identification of safeguarding concerns (Atherton and Ziebland, 2016;Payne and Clarke, 2023).…”