Table 1.

Characteristics of practices^a and registered populations, by type of working at scale^b

	Not working at scale	Working at scale		University practices	No working at scale data	All practices
		Non-core general practice onlyc	Core general practiced
Number of practices, n	2827	3693	210	8	424	7162
Rurality of practice
Rural, %	19.1	12.1	10.0	0.0	13.0	14.9
OR versus not working at scale, 95% CI		0.6 (0.5 to 0.7)	0.5 (0.3 to 0.7)
Level of deprivation
Median IMD scoree 2015	20.6	22.9	30.2	21.5	23.0	22.2
Difference versus not working at scale, 95% CI		1.9 (1.0 to 2.7)	5.9 (3.5 to 8.4)
Characteristics of practice population
Mean aged <5 years, %	5.5	5.7	6.1	1.8	5.7	5.7
Difference versus not working at scale, % (95% CI)		0.2 (0.1 to 0.3)	0.6 (0.4 to 0.8)
Mean aged >75 years, %	8.3	7.4	6.6	1.7	7.3	7.7
Difference versus not working at scale, % (95% CI)		−0.9 (−0.8 to −1.1)	−1.7 (−1.3 to −2.2)
Mean longstanding illness, %	54.5	53.0	52.3	41.5	53.6	53.6
Difference versus not working at scale, % (95% CI)		−1.5 (−1.1 to −2.0)	−2.3 (−1.2 to −3.4)

^aPractices in existence in February 2018, except practices with <1000 registered patients.

^bWorking at scale defined as working to serve populations of >30 000 patients, either as single practices or in collaboration with other practices.

^cServices beyond the core general practice contract, for example, extended access out of hours, and services normally delivered in secondary care.

^dLarge practices, superpartnerships, and multisite organisations, working to deliver core general practice at scale. The core general practice contract requires practices to manage patients who are acutely ill, chronically ill, or terminally ill, during office hours.

^eIMD 2015 of lower layer super-output area of practice postcode. IMD = Index of Multiple Deprivation. OR = odds ratio.