How representative is the population covered by the RCGP spotter practice scheme? Using Geographical Information Systems to assess.

BACKGROUND: The Royal College of General Practitioners Weekly Returns Service (WRS) is a network of sentinel general practices providing weekly data on illnesses diagnosed in general practice across England and Wales. The WRS contributes to the surveillance of infectious disease, most notably influenza. We use Geographical Information Systems (GIS) techniques to establish whether the practice populations of the current WRS are representative of the general population.
METHODS: This study compares the practice population with the general population using the Department of the Environment, Transport and Regions (DETR) Indices of Deprivation 2000 scores for English wards.
RESULTS: Comparisons at the national level reveal that the WRS population is less deprived than the general population. At a supra-regional level the WRS practice population shows the same North-South differences as the national population, but the proportions of patients in the more deprived and least deprived wards are more exaggerated in the WRS population. A supplementary analysis reveals that the WRS has no patients in the most deprived wards of London.
CONCLUSION: The differences have implications for the future recruitment of practices to the WRS. Previous studies have demonstrated the effect of socio-economic deprivation on GP consultation rates. To ensure that the consultation rates reported by the WRS will better reflect consulting patterns in the general population the WRS will need to recruit practices with patients in the most deprived areas of the South and less deprived areas in the North of England. This study demonstrates the value of GIS in the establishment of surveillance systems.