GPs at the Deep End.

摘要

The 'GPs at the Deep End' have the laudable aim of reducing health inequalities. Watt hypothesises there is an inequitable distribution of GPs in deprived areas. He suggests that deprived areas require more GPs than affluent areas because the high disease prevalence in deprived areas leads to greater GP workload. We would like to challenge the assumption that deprivation is the main influence on GP workload. We believe at least four other factors influence this and that the four factors have complex interactions. First, in the same issue of the BJGP, Salisbury et al found that age is associated with disease prevalence and also with consultation rates with GPs in England. Therefore, GPs working in affluent areas may have an equally high workload as those in deprived areas if they have a large proportion of older patients. In Monifieth, Scotland, we not only have a large proportion of older patients but also a large proportion of patients living in care homes.