Access to GP services supported by IT infrastructure readiness: Analysing publically available GP practice data

Lengu, D; Sapountzis, S; Smith, R; Kagioglou, M; Kobbacy, KAH

Abstract

The overuse of hospital accident and emergency (A&E) departments has long been an issue ofconcern in most Western countries.
Patients who attend A&E with non-urgent needs consume limitedA&E resources and they may impede access for other patients with urgent and emergency needs.
Anumber of studies have found that patients often turn to A&E for care because they lack timely access
to general practitioner (GP) services. Recent advances in technology may help GP improve
patients‟access to GP services andallow them to be more responsive their patients‟ needs. Digital and online
technology can ease interaction and information-sharing between patients and their GPs.
In this study, exploratory data mining is carried out in order to better understand the reationship
between A&E attendance and various GP practice characteristics. The data used in this exercise is GP
practice data publically available from the NHS Information Centre website.
This data covered 39 different practice attributes related to IT infrastructure, patient care experience, patient deprivationand disease prevalence rates.
Cluster analysis is used to divide GP practices into meaningful clusters and the attribute
s that define each cluster are identified. The differences between the five identified
clusters suggest that the problem of non-urgent A&E attendances should be addressed in a moretargeted fashion. Our analysis also suggests
that GP practices with poor patient satisfaction levels are
adopting online technologies at a slower pace wh
en compared with others that have higher patient satisfaction levels.

Citation

Lengu, D., Sapountzis, S., Smith, R., Kagioglou, M., & Kobbacy, K. (2013, July). Access to GP services supported by IT infrastructure readiness: Analysing publically available GP practice data. Presented at 5th European Conference on Intelligent Management Systems in Operations, Salford

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: 5th European Conference on Intelligent Management Systems in Operations
• Conference Location: Salford
• Start Date: Jul 3, 2013
• End Date: Jul 4, 2013
• Publication Date: Jul 3, 2013
• Deposit Date: Jun 28, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 28, 2013
• Keywords: Primary care access; Cluster analysis; Data mining
• Related Public URLs: http://www.theorsociety.com/Pages/ImagesAndDocuments/documents/Conferences/IMSIO5/IMSIO5Timetable.pdf
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference