BACKGROUND: It is difficult to measure and compare workload in UK general practice. A GP/health economist team recently proposed a means of calculating the unit cost of a GP consulting. It is therefore now possible to extrapolate to the costs of other clinical tasks in a practice and then to compare the workloads of caring for different patients and compare between practices. OBJECTIVES: The study aims were: (i) to estimate the relative costs of daily clinical activities within a practice (implying workload); and (ii) to compare the costs of caring for different types of patients categorized by gender, by age, and by socio-economic status as marked by the Council Tax Valuation Band (CTVB) of home address. METHODS: The study design was a cross-sectional cost comparison of all clinical activity aggregated, by patient, over one year in an English semi-rural general practice. The subjects were 3339 practice patients, randomly selected. The main outcome measures were costs per clinical domain and overall costs per patient per year; both then compared by gender, age group and by CTVB. RESULTS: CTVB is as significant a predictor of patient care cost (workload) as is patient gender and age (both already known). CONCLUSIONS: It is now possible to estimate the cost of care of different patients in such a way that NHS planning and especially resource allocation to practices could be improved.
BACKGROUND: It is difficult to measure and compare workload in UK general practice. A GP/health economist team recently proposed a means of calculating the unit cost of a GP consulting. It is therefore now possible to extrapolate to the costs of other clinical tasks in a practice and then to compare the workloads of caring for different patients and compare between practices. OBJECTIVES: The study aims were: (i) to estimate the relative costs of daily clinical activities within a practice (implying workload); and (ii) to compare the costs of caring for different types of patients categorized by gender, by age, and by socio-economic status as marked by the Council Tax Valuation Band (CTVB) of home address. METHODS: The study design was a cross-sectional cost comparison of all clinical activity aggregated, by patient, over one year in an English semi-rural general practice. The subjects were 3339 practice patients, randomly selected. The main outcome measures were costs per clinical domain and overall costs per patient per year; both then compared by gender, age group and by CTVB. RESULTS: CTVB is as significant a predictor of patient care cost (workload) as is patient gender and age (both already known). CONCLUSIONS: It is now possible to estimate the cost of care of different patients in such a way that NHS planning and especially resource allocation to practices could be improved.
Authors: Norman Beale; Gill Kane; Mark Gwynne; Carole Peart; Gordon Taylor; David Herrick; Andy Boyd Journal: BMC Public Health Date: 2006-01-11 Impact factor: 3.295
Authors: David L Fone; Frank Dunstan; Stephen Christie; Andrew Jones; Jonathan West; Margaret Webber; Nathan Lester; John Watkins Journal: BMC Public Health Date: 2006-05-02 Impact factor: 3.295
Authors: Sandra Hollinghurst; Niamh Redmond; Céire Costelloe; Alan Montgomery; Margaret Fletcher; Tim J Peters; Alastair D Hay Journal: BMJ Date: 2008-09-09