New models of general practice
Research type
Research Study
Full title
New Models of General Practice
IRAS ID
174127
Contact name
Natasha Curry
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Nuffield Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 8 months, 31 days
Research summary
At-scale general practice organisations have attracted significant attention in the NHS recently; but their impact relative to smaller, independent general practices is largely unexamined. Our aim in this two-year project will be to understand how and why at-scale organisations have formed, and measure their impacts against smaller practices. We will use a realist approach, a theory driven method of analysing social programmes, to examine four organisations as in-depth case studies.
The focus for this ethics application is the case study research, however information about a linked learning network and national survey has been provided as context below.Case study research
To understand and test theories held about the impacts of ‘scaling-up’ we will undertake: document analysis; observations of strategic board meetings; semi-structured interviews with staff and members of the practice patient participation group; staff surveys; and analysis of quality and performance data. Our intentions are to synthesise an understanding about organisation aims, structures, motivations for forming, and factors affecting their development. The case study sites will be recruited from the learning network.Learning network
Nuffield Trust hosts a learning network of 12 large-scale general practice organisations. Within the network, we will analyse publically-available practice-level quality data, aggregating it to organisation-level. Our analysis will include a focus on organisations’ interpretations of their performance, compared to peer organisation averages and national benchmarks.National survey
We will distribute a survey to all members of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) in England, in collaboration with the RCGP, to gauge numbers and types of emerging large-scale general practice organisations.The case study work package is funded by the Nuffield Trust. The National Survey is being conducted in collaboration with the RCGP as part of work programme funded by NHS England.
REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 1
REC reference
15/ES/0081
Date of REC Opinion
13 May 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion