When people want to visit and register with a GP practice near them, the ideal situation is that they will see the same doctor every single time they go for a visit outside of emergency out-of-hours situations.
At The Alexandra Practice, we pride ourselves on not only providing access to GP appointments on the NHS as much as possible, but we also attempt to ensure that each of these appointments has a familiar face.
This is our commitment to continuity of care, and it is something we prioritise as a clinic, not only because many of our patients find it important as well.
To understand why, here is a quick explanation of continuity of care, why it matters and how we balance continuity with access to appointments.
What Is Continuity Of Care?
The concept of continuity of care has a few different meanings depending on which parts of health and social care you are talking about, but in the context of general practice, it means having consultations when they are needed, with any needs and requirements respected.
For many people, the biggest example of continuity of care is having a primary GP at the practice that you see for all or at least as many appointments as are possible.
This is particularly important for people who are likely to have more regular appointments, such as people over 65, those with chronic health conditions that need to be carefully monitored over the course of years or decades, and people who are being monitored with new or shifting symptoms.
There are various types of continuity of care, from longitudinal (or traditional) continuity, which means that a patient sees the same GP as much as possible irrespective of the condition they are visiting for, to episodic continuity, which is care focused on a particular condition.
Why Does Continuity Of Care Matter?
Many GP practices want to balance continuity with access and availability, because everyone who books an appointment and visits our reception desk will have different needs.
Some people will be visiting for the first time with a certain set of symptoms, they will receive an examination, a consultation, a prescription and typically that will be the end of it.
If you have an ear infection, a sore throat that will not go away, shingles or an uncomplicated UTI, for example, treatment is usually a one-off process and any GP can and will provide a high quality of care.
However, other people will visit the practice regularly, whether that is monthly, weekly or multiple times a week. Continuity matters a lot and can have a major effect on the outcomes of treatment.
The doctor-patient relationship is very important, and if someone visits the same GP each time, they feel like they are being understood more, they feel like they are being listened to when it comes to care, treatment decisions and overall feedback.
How Do We Balance Continuity With Access?
There was a historic assumption that you could either have more available appointment times or better continuity of care, but this is not really the case. Our practice works with patients to focus on getting them the type of care that they need when they need it.
Sometimes it is better to have immediate care, particularly if the symptoms could potentially require a hospital visit, whilst in other cases people might prefer to wait until the following week to see their usual GP.
