The number of full-time equivalent (FTE) primary care professionals per 100,000 population (weighted for age and need).
The number of primary care professionals (PCPs) per 100,000 population is a measure of the relative access to primary care across the country. Although it does not measure quality of care, it does indicate areas where access to health care may be a problem. The population is weighted for need to allow direct comparison between areas and allow for differences in need between areas. This indicator enables us to track change in the number of primary care professionals according to need. This indicator is a national headline inequalities indicator. In March 2008 the National GP Access Programme was established in response to recommendations in the report Primary Care Access and Responsiveness, with the aim of supporting the NHS in driving continuous improvements in the accessibility and responsiveness of GP services. As set out in World class commissioning for GP services, improving access to GP services can also help improve the quality of care, by improving the patient experience and reducing health inequalities. International studies have shown that increasing access to primary care professionals is one of the most effective ways to improve the health of that population, for example by improving smoking cessation and screening rates, and by improving quality for specific vulnerable groups; providing a starting point for practices and PCTs to undertake far-reaching improvements to other aspects of care quality; making practices better places of work for staff; reducing inappropriate (and often more expensive) time spent in secondary care, for example the circa 50% of minor attendances in accident & emergency that could be dealt with in primary care. Further, the PSA Delivery Agreement 18, and more broadly the Department of Health’s (DH) ‘Better Health and Well-being for all’ strategic objective sits alongside the DH’s other two strategic objectives of better care for all and better value for all. This reflects the ambitions set out in ‘Our health, our care, our say’ to create a health and adult social care service that genuinely focuses on prevention and promotion of health and well-being informed by what people have said they want.
Legacy unique identifier: P01105