Table 1.
Use of general practitioners by elderly disabled people resident in communal establishments
| Variable | Local authority homes (n=1152) | Voluntary residential homes (n=184) | Voluntary nursing homes (n=149) | Private residential homes (n=406) | Private nursing homes (n=427) | All establishments (n=2319) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No (%) consulting general practitioner: | ||||||
| Yes | 954 (82.8) | 160 (87.0) | 134 (89.9) | 358 (88.2) | 364 (85.4) | 1971 (85.0) |
| No | 134 (11.7) | 18 (9.9) | 9 (5.8) | 34 (8.3) | 33 (7.6) | 228 (9.5) |
| Don’t know or missing | 64 (5.6) | 6 (3.1) | 6 (3.9) | 14 (3.5) | 30 (7.0) | 120 (5.2) |
| Number of consultations per year*: | ||||||
| Mean | 6.7 | 5.1 | 17.9 | 8.2 | 14.2 | 8.9 |
| Median | 4.0 | 3.0 | 6.0 | 4.0 | 6.0 | 4.0 |
| 10th percentile | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 |
| 90th percentile | 14.0 | 12.0 | 52.0 | 15.3 | 31.6 | 20.0 |
| Range | 0-144 | 0-36 | 0-216 | 0-90 | 0-192 | 0-216 |
| Typical location of consultation (No (%) of patients who consulted): | ||||||
| General practitioner’s surgery | 26 (2.7) | 31 (19.4) | 3 (2.2) | 28 (7.8) | 16 (4.4) | 104 (5.3) |
| Communal establishment | 924 (96.9) | 130 (80.6) | 131 (97.8) | 328 (91.6) | 348 (95.9) | 1861 (94.4) |
| Don’t know/missing | 4 (0.5) | 0 | 0 | 2 (0.6) | 0 | 7 (0.3) |
| General practitioner utilisation per resident per week (minutes)†: | ||||||
| Mean (range) | 2.69 (0-62) | 2.00 (0-12) | 7.33 (0-92) | 3.29 (0-31) | 5.61 (0-82) | 3.57 (0-92) |
| Median (10th-90th centile) | 1.71 (0-5.55) | 1.28 (0-5.13) | 2.56 (0.17-22.21) | 1.71 (0-6.41) | 2.56 (0-12.81) | 1.71 (0-8.28) |
Data were weighted using a sample weight to allow for non-response, etc.
*
Across the sample with complete data.
†
People for whom data on general practitioner consultations were missing were recoded as having zero consultations.