Table 3

GPs' prospective and retrospective views of the impact of the new contract, and their experiences of job design and time pressures.

n/N (%)
20042005
Impact of the new contract
 Decreased professional autonomy1637/1966 (83.3)945/1325 (71.3)
 Increased clinical workload1819/2029 (89.7)1143/1325 (86.3)
 Increased administrative workload1938/2026 (95.7)1245/1324 (94.0)
 Increased personal income936/1761 (53.2)1160/1322 (87.8)
 Decreased ability to do justice to the job1079/1905 (56.6)584/1319 (44.3)
 Increased inappropriate demands from patients1083/1935 (56.0)615/1325 (46.4)
 Decreased overall quality of working life1127/1911 (59.0)506/1322 (38.3)
 Decreased quality of care for patients with acute disease611/2015 (30.3)263/1325 (19.9)
 Increased quality of care for patients with chronic disease1430/2030 (70.4)1038/1325 (78.3)
 Increased quality of preventative care1379/2030 (67.9)968/1324 (73.1)
 Increased overall quality of care925/1996 (46.3)800/1325 (60.4)
 Increased overall quality in practice1008/1980 (50.9)860/1324 (65.0)
Agreement with job design and time pressure statements
 Job has become more interesting over last year391/2093 (18.7)195/1344 (14.5)
 Trouble working out if doing well or poorly654/2096 (31.2)395/1343 (29.4)
 Involved in deciding on changes that affect work925/2082 (44.4)628/1341 (46.8)
 Changes to job in last year led to better patient care466/2097 (22.2)460/1341 (34.3)
 Do not have time to carry out all my work1644/2098 (78.4)898/1343 (66.9)
 Cannot meet conflicting demands on time at work1540/2094 (73.5)857/1345 (63.7)
  • Denominator (N) varies according to how many doctors responded to item.