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POLICY BRIEF article

Front. Health Serv.
Sec. Health Policy and Management
Volume 4 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frhs.2024.1499847

Enhancing access to primary care is critical to the future of an equitable health service: Using process visualisation to understand the impact of provide a structured exploration of the impact and implementation of national policy in the (UK)

Provisionally accepted
Ian Litchfield Ian Litchfield 1*Nicola Kay Gale Nicola Kay Gale 2Sheila Greenfield Sheila Greenfield 3David Shukla David Shukla 4Michael Burrows Michael Burrows 5
  • 1 University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • 2 Health Services Management Centre (HSMC), University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
  • 3 Institute of Applied Health Research, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • 4 Eve Hill Surgery and Research Delivery Network, Dudley, United Kingdom
  • 5 School of Psychological, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Coventry University, Coventry, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    • Access to UK general practice is complicated by the need to provide equitable and universal care within a system adapting to workforce challenges, digital innovation, and unprecedented demand. • Despite the importance of accessing primary care in meeting the overall aim of delivering equitable care, this is the first time the direct and indirect influence of policies intended to facilitate access have been systematically explored. • Further consideration by policymakers is needed to accommodate the difference between what patients need and what patients want when accessing primary care, and the differences in their ability to utilise digital options. The designation of care was hindered by long-standing issues of reliable data and variations in the interpretation of local and national protocols and guidelines.

    Keywords: Primary Care, Policy implementation and delivery, access and quality, process visualization, National Health Service England

    Received: 21 Sep 2024; Accepted: 31 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Litchfield, Gale, Greenfield, Shukla and Burrows. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ian Litchfield, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.