Morbidity, Performance and Quality In Primary Care

Citation

(2007), "Morbidity, Performance and Quality In Primary Care", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 20 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2007.06220fae.002

Morbidity, Performance and Quality In Primary Care

Morbidity, Performance and Quality In Primary CareEdited by Gert P. Westert, Lea Jabaaij and François G. SchellevisRadcliffeOxford2006312 pp. (paperback)ISBN-10 1 84619 053 3

This book is based on the findings of a nationwide study, the aim of which was to analyse general practitioners’ performance as gatekeepers of the Dutch healthcare system. The study was undertaken along six themes: the health of the population; inequalities in health; utilisation of care; quality of care; communication; organisation and workload. Morbidity, Performance and Quality in Primary Care involves 400,000 patients, 1.5 million recorded GP-patient contacts and 2.1 million drug prescriptions.

This survey appears at a timely moment. It coincides with the recent interest in primary care arising not only from the growing importance of cost containment in healthcare, but also from the now firmly established association between the life expectancy of a population and the existence of a strong primary care sector. The international interest in the Dutch situation is reflected in several chapters, where experts from all over the world put Dutch general practice into an international perspective.

Contents include:

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  General practice in the Netherlands; major findings from DNSGP-2.

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  The design of the second Dutch national survey of general practice.

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  The Dutch health care system: how are we organised?

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  Primary health care as a determinant of population health: a social epidemiologist’s view.

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  Morbidity in the population and in general practice.

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  A comparison of disease prevalence in general practice in the Netherlands and in England and Wales.

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  Activities of the general practitioner: are they important?

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  Health status of the elderly in the future: demography, epidemiology and prevention need for general practitioners in The Netherlands until 2020: an exploration of demographic and epidemiological changes in general practice.

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  Supply of GPs in the Netherlands.

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  Collecting information in general practice: “just by pressing a single button?”.