RESUMO
A postal questionnaire was sent to all Norfolk practitioners, allowing a comparison to be made between rural general practice and urban practice in Norwich and Great Yarmouth. However, when Norfolk town and country doctors were compared, little difference was found in their personal or practice characteristics. In respect of their workload rural doctors, as expected, carried out more procedures overall but, somewhat surprisingly, did not make more home visits. Both sets of doctors had similar views on their present and future role in general practice.When Norfolk doctors collectively were compared with general practitioners nationally their service appeared to be of a high standard. The only uncertainty surrounded the effects of the greater clustering of Norfolk surgeries, together with the levels of home visiting and their attendant effects on patient accessibility.
Assuntos
Medicina de Família e Comunidade/organização & administração , Área de Atuação Profissional , Prática Profissional , População Rural , População Urbana , Adulto , Inglaterra , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Médicos de Família , Inquéritos e QuestionáriosRESUMO
Surveys of general practitioners and rural residents were conducted in Norfolk to establish the characteristics of branch surgeries in the district and the patients who use them. The branch surgeries tend to serve an unrepresentative section of patients, predominantly those disadvantaged both in health and personal mobility-those from manual social classes, the elderly and those without cars. While doctors and patients were agreed that lower standards of care are provided in most branch surgeries compared with main surgeries, the evidence suggests that branch surgeries nevertheless meet a social need.
