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. 2025 Jan 27:4:1499847.
doi: 10.3389/frhs.2024.1499847. eCollection 2024.

Enhancing access to primary care is critical to the future of an equitable health service: using process visualisation to understand the impact of national policy in the UK

Ian Litchfield  1 , Nicola Kay Gale  2 , Sheila Greenfield  1 , David Shukla  3 , Micheal Burrows  4
Affiliations

Enhancing access to primary care is critical to the future of an equitable health service: using process visualisation to understand the impact of national policy in the UK

Ian Litchfield et al. Front Health Serv. .

Abstract

Access to UK general practice is complicated by the need to provide equitable and universal care within a system adapting to workforce challenges, digital innovation, and unprecedented demand. Despite the importance of accessing primary care in meeting the overall aim of delivering equitable care, this is the first time the direct and indirect influence of policies intended to facilitate access have been systematically explored. Further consideration by policymakers is needed to accommodate the difference between what patients need and what patients want when accessing primary care, and the differences in their ability to utilise digital options. The designation of care was hindered by long-standing issues of reliable data and variations in the interpretation of local and national protocols and guidelines.

Keywords: National Health Service England; access and quality; policy implementation and delivery; primary care; process visualization.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Service blueprint showing the process of access to general practice.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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