Area-level deprivation and geographic factors influencing utilisation of General Practitioner services
Inequities in access to General Practitioner (GP) services are a key policy concern given the role of GPs as gatekeepers to secondary care services. Geographic or area-level factors, including local deprivation and supply of healthcare providers, are important elements of access. In considering how...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2021-09-01
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| Series: | SSM: Population Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352827321001452 |
| _version_ | 1818887184353067008 |
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| author | Peter Barlow Gretta Mohan Anne Nolan Seán Lyons |
| author_facet | Peter Barlow Gretta Mohan Anne Nolan Seán Lyons |
| author_sort | Peter Barlow |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Inequities in access to General Practitioner (GP) services are a key policy concern given the role of GPs as gatekeepers to secondary care services. Geographic or area-level factors, including local deprivation and supply of healthcare providers, are important elements of access. In considering how area-level deprivation relates to GP utilisation, two potentially opposing factors may be important. The supply of healthcare services tends to be lower in areas of higher deprivation. However, poorer health status among individuals in deprived areas suggests greater need for healthcare. To explore the relationship of area-level deprivation to healthcare utilisation, we use data from the Healthy Ireland survey, which provided a sample of 6326 respondents to face-to-face interviews.A u-shaped relationship between GP supply and area-level deprivation is observed in the data. Modelling reveals that residing in more deprived communities has a strong, statistically significant positive association with having seen a GP within the last four weeks, controlling for individual characteristics and GP supply. All else equal, residing in an area ranked in the most deprived quintile increases the odds of a respondent having visited the GP in four weeks by 1.43 (95% Confidence Interval: 1.15–1.78), compared to the least deprived quintile (p-value< 0.001). The findings indicate that the level of deprivation in an area may be relevant to decisions about how to allocate primary care resources. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T16:33:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-61fe7b539e1e4966a48ca0a27141c8c8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2352-8273 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T16:33:12Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SSM: Population Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-61fe7b539e1e4966a48ca0a27141c8c82022-12-21T20:14:05ZengElsevierSSM: Population Health2352-82732021-09-0115100870Area-level deprivation and geographic factors influencing utilisation of General Practitioner servicesPeter Barlow0Gretta Mohan1Anne Nolan2Seán Lyons3Economic and Social Research Institute, Whitaker Square, Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin 2, Dublin, IrelandEconomic and Social Research Institute, Whitaker Square, Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin 2, Dublin, Ireland; School of Economics, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland; Corresponding author. Economic and Social Research Institute, Whitaker Square, Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin 2, D02 K138, Ireland.Economic and Social Research Institute, Whitaker Square, Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin 2, Dublin, Ireland; School of Economics, Trinity College, Dublin, IrelandEconomic and Social Research Institute, Whitaker Square, Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin 2, Dublin, Ireland; School of Economics, Trinity College, Dublin, IrelandInequities in access to General Practitioner (GP) services are a key policy concern given the role of GPs as gatekeepers to secondary care services. Geographic or area-level factors, including local deprivation and supply of healthcare providers, are important elements of access. In considering how area-level deprivation relates to GP utilisation, two potentially opposing factors may be important. The supply of healthcare services tends to be lower in areas of higher deprivation. However, poorer health status among individuals in deprived areas suggests greater need for healthcare. To explore the relationship of area-level deprivation to healthcare utilisation, we use data from the Healthy Ireland survey, which provided a sample of 6326 respondents to face-to-face interviews.A u-shaped relationship between GP supply and area-level deprivation is observed in the data. Modelling reveals that residing in more deprived communities has a strong, statistically significant positive association with having seen a GP within the last four weeks, controlling for individual characteristics and GP supply. All else equal, residing in an area ranked in the most deprived quintile increases the odds of a respondent having visited the GP in four weeks by 1.43 (95% Confidence Interval: 1.15–1.78), compared to the least deprived quintile (p-value< 0.001). The findings indicate that the level of deprivation in an area may be relevant to decisions about how to allocate primary care resources.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352827321001452General practitioner (GP) servicesPrimary careGP utilisationHealthcare supplyGeographic accessIreland |
| spellingShingle | Peter Barlow Gretta Mohan Anne Nolan Seán Lyons Area-level deprivation and geographic factors influencing utilisation of General Practitioner services SSM: Population Health General practitioner (GP) services Primary care GP utilisation Healthcare supply Geographic access Ireland |
| title | Area-level deprivation and geographic factors influencing utilisation of General Practitioner services |
| title_full | Area-level deprivation and geographic factors influencing utilisation of General Practitioner services |
| title_fullStr | Area-level deprivation and geographic factors influencing utilisation of General Practitioner services |
| title_full_unstemmed | Area-level deprivation and geographic factors influencing utilisation of General Practitioner services |
| title_short | Area-level deprivation and geographic factors influencing utilisation of General Practitioner services |
| title_sort | area level deprivation and geographic factors influencing utilisation of general practitioner services |
| topic | General practitioner (GP) services Primary care GP utilisation Healthcare supply Geographic access Ireland |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352827321001452 |
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