TY - JOUR T1 - Patient-reported areas for quality improvement in general practice: a cross-sectional survey JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - e312 LP - e318 DO - 10.3399/bjgp15X684841 VL - 65 IS - 634 AU - Amy Waller AU - Mariko Carey AU - Danielle Mazza AU - Serene Yoong AU - Alice Grady AU - Rob Sanson-Fisher Y1 - 2015/05/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/65/634/e312.abstract N2 - Background GPs are often a patient’s first point of contact with the health system. The increasing demands imposed on GPs may have an impact on the quality of care delivered. Patients are well placed to make judgements about aspects of care that need to be improved.Aim To determine whether general practice patients perceive that the care they receive is ‘patient-centred’ across eight domains of care, and to determine the association between sociodemographic, GP and practice characteristics, detection of preventive health risks, and receipt of patient-centred care.Design and setting Cross-sectional survey of patients attending Australian general practice clinics.Method Patients completed a touchscreen survey in the waiting room to rate the care received from their GP across eight domains of patient-centred care. Patients also completed the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and self-reported health risk factors. GPs completed a checklist for each patient asking about the presence of health risk factors.Results In total 1486 patients and 51 GPs participated. Overall, 83% of patients perceived that the care they received was patient-centred across all eight domains. Patients most frequently perceived the ‘access to health care when needed’ domain as requiring improvement (8.3%). Not having private health insurance and attending a practice located in a disadvantaged area were significantly associated with perceived need for improvements in care (P<0.05).Conclusion Patients in general practice report that accessibility is an aspect of care that could be improved. Further investigation of how indicators of lower socioeconomic status interact with the provision of patient-centred care and health outcomes is required. ER -