News » Research » Academic research highlights benefits of small GP care
January 8th 2025
The health and economic benefits of small practice general practice have been highlighted by a university academic.
A new article, Why seeing the same doctor could save your life, highlights the negative consequences of at-scale GP practice and a focus on access to care over continuity.
The research, written by Loughborough University academic Professor James Goodwin, cites a review examining 1.4 million patients worldwide. This found that those who do not see the same doctor regularly are more likely to die within a certain period.
A 2022 study found that those who saw the same doctor, compared with those who saw lots of different GPs, were 35 per cent less likely to develop delirium, 57 per cent less likely to develop incontinence and 10 per cent less likely to be admitted to hospital as an emergency.
Continuity of care is associated with accumulated knowledge of an individual patient, more appropriate medication and compliance. The research finds that personal, single-GP care results in widescale “deprescribing”. It adds that polypharmacy has increased by at least 30 per cent in the last three decades, is costly and extremely injurious to health.
