Table 5.
Continuity subscores of different subgroups
| Personal continuity | Team/cross-boundary continuity | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP knows me | GP shows commitment | Specialist knows me | Specialist shows commitment | Between care providers within general practice | Between care providers within hospital | Between GP and specialist | |
| Patients recruited from general practice | 3.86 (0.70) (n = 135) | 3.45 (0.87) (n = 128) | 3.31 (0.82) (n = 75) | 2.96 (1.04) (n=92) | 4.03 (0.64) (n = 81) | 3.61 (0.98) (n = 46) | 3.40 (0.80) (n = 59) |
| Patients recruited from hospital/outpatient department | 3.59b (0.78) (n = 110) | 2.97b (1.07) (n = 110) | 3.85b (0.64) (n = 117) | 3.71b (0.84) (n = 113) | 3.44b (0.82) (n = 56) | 3.66 (0.97) (n = 95) | 3.20 (0.92) (n = 90) |
| Patients with a psychiatric illness | 3.41 (0.78) (n = 26) | 2.72 (1.03) (n = 26) | 3.63 (0.81) (n = 23) | 3.29 (1.04) (n = 21) | 3.60 (0.73) (n=12) | 3.40 (1.12) (n = 17) | 3.24 (0.64) (n = 20) |
| Patients with diabetes mellitus | 3.77a (0.74) (n = 214) | 3.29b (0.97) (n = 208) | 3.62 (0.76) (n = 171) | 3.43 (0.99) (n = 163) | 3.83 (0.78) (n = 133) | 3.68 (0.95) (n = 124) | 3.29 (0.91) (n = 129) |
| Patients registered in a general practice in a town <40 000 inhabitants | 3.81 (0.72) (n = 183) | 3.31 (1.00) (n = 175) | 3.54 (0.79) (n = 143) | 3.33 (1.02) (n = 132) | 3.89 (0.74) (n = 115) | 3.61 (0.98) (n = 99) | 3.35 (0.90) (n = 106) |
| Patients registered in a general practice in a town >40 000 inhabitants | 3.54a (0.79) (n = 61) | 2.97a (0.93) (n = 62) | 3.86b (0.64) (n = 54) | 3.58 (0.90) (n = 55) | 3.53a (0.80) (n = 32) | 3.78 (0.93) (n = 41) | 3.12 (0.82) (n = 42) |
| Patients who saw 1 care provider in the last year | 4.18 (0.76) (n = 12) | 3.85 (0.66) (n = 10) | 3.55 (0.07) (n = 2) | 3.33 (0.00) (n = 2) | – | – | – |
| Patients who saw >1 care provider in the last year | 3.72a (0.74) (n = 230) | 3.20a (1.00) (n = 225) | 3.64 (0.77) (n = 192) | 3.42 (1.00) (n = 182) | 3.74 (0.76) (n = 134) | 3.66 (n = 0.99) (n = 136) | 3.27 (0.88) (n = 144) |
Data are shown as mean (SD);
a
P<0.05;
b
P<0.01. SD = standard deviation.