BACKGROUND: It is common practice to record the reasons why patients have an encounter with the practice, but the collection of socioeconomic data with which to link this morbidity data is less easy to achieve. AIM: To describe the social enquiry used in the Fourth National General Practice-based morbidity study (1991-1992) and to consider its effectiveness for use in practice. METHOD: Socioeconomic data were collected suing a structured questionnaire administered by a trained interviewer. Data were provided by both consulting and non-consulting registered patients. RESULTS: The interview technique proved to be acceptable to patients, interviewers and general practitioners, simple to administer, and inexpensive to collect. Eighty-three per cent of the 502,000 people included in the study provided social and occupational data. Less than 1.5% of patients refused to be interviewed. Fifty-four of the 60 practices achieved the target level of 90% of registered patients being successfully interviewed. CONCLUSION: A method of socioeconomic data collection based on that used in the 1991-1992 study would be of benefit for health care planning, allocation of resources, design of performance indicators and epidemiological research.
BACKGROUND: It is common practice to record the reasons why patients have an encounter with the practice, but the collection of socioeconomic data with which to link this morbidity data is less easy to achieve. AIM: To describe the social enquiry used in the Fourth National General Practice-based morbidity study (1991-1992) and to consider its effectiveness for use in practice. METHOD: Socioeconomic data were collected suing a structured questionnaire administered by a trained interviewer. Data were provided by both consulting and non-consulting registered patients. RESULTS: The interview technique proved to be acceptable to patients, interviewers and general practitioners, simple to administer, and inexpensive to collect. Eighty-three per cent of the 502,000 people included in the study provided social and occupational data. Less than 1.5% of patients refused to be interviewed. Fifty-four of the 60 practices achieved the target level of 90% of registered patients being successfully interviewed. CONCLUSION: A method of socioeconomic data collection based on that used in the 1991-1992 study would be of benefit for health care planning, allocation of resources, design of performance indicators and epidemiological research.