Abstract
Background: General practice in the UK and countries including Australia, Canada and New Zealand is in a state of crisis. In the UK, a range of measures have been introduced to address the situation. Innovations include practice networks, multidisciplinary roles, and use of digital technologies. However, identifying what still needs fixing could benefit from more evidence, particularly in relation to day-to-day service delivery.
Aim: To identify the general practice workforce’s top ten research priorities to improve service delivery.
Design and setting: A priority setting study which used an adapted James Lind Alliance (JLA) methodology and involved staff working in general practice across the UK.
Method: The study comprised four phases: (1) an online qualitative survey issued to the general practice workforce (clinical and non-clinical groups); (2) thematic analysis of free-text responses; (3) generation of indicative research questions and (4) ranking exercises with original survey respondents.
Results: 93 staff completed the phase 1 survey from which 20 themes were categorised and developed into research questions. Twenty-two staff responded to the first ranking activity, 11 confirmed the final top ten. However, there was no clear ranking within these ten priorities, instead they carried equal weight and were closely interconnected.
Conclusion: Appling a marginal gains approach by seeking to explore all ten priorities simultaneously may provide more noticeable improvements overall, as opposed to concentrating on one area at a time. Systems based approaches which take account of the significant role of context may be a particularly useful lens for future research.