Phase 1: Survey and retrospective work
Questionnaire survey of general practices in England
Resources and documentation: Survey and retrospective data collection
Questionnaire survey of general practices in England
We have developed a questionnaire to audit the different types of electronic test result services offered in primary care. It has been disseminated to general practices in all 15 National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) local Clinical Research Networks in England.
We sought to recruit practices according to the following criteria:
- practice list size
- deprivation quintile
- electronic health system used
- training practice (yes or no)
- proportion of practice list size aged 65+ years
- whether the practice is rural or urban.
Adoption of electronic medical test result services may be less likely in non-research active practices. To investigate this, we have also sent the questionnaire to a random sample of non-research active practices.
Using this information, we will be able to describe which models are being used in different types of general practice and whether these are offered to all or a subgroup of patients.
Retrospective data collection
We would like to find out whether patients who access their electronic medical test results differ from those patients who do not access these services. To do this, we will undertake a retrospective cohort secondary data analysis of all patients (18+ years) registered between 1 August 2018 and 1 August 2019 in a diverse sample of general practices in England.
Data to be extracted will include medical test result services used and frequency of accessing medical services. All extracted data from the records of patients will be pseudo-anonymised before securely transferring to the University of Bristol research team for analysis.
We will analyse the data to determine whether patients who access medical test results electronically differ from those who do not with respect to their:
- demographics
- diagnoses or conditions
- frequency of consultations
- practice characteristics
- type of electronic access to test results.
Resources and documentation: Survey and retrospective data collection
Health Research Authority (HRA) statements of activities and schedules of events
HRA statement of activities - Questionnaire (PDF, 307kB)
HRA schedule of events – Questionnaire Survey spreadsheet (Office document, 659kB)
HRA Statement of activities for participating NHS organisations (PDF, 307kB) - Retrospective data collection
HRA schedule of events - Retrospective data collection (Office document, 659kB)
Service support costs
SSC Agreement Letter - ACCESS West of England 19-19-19 (PDF, 178kB)
