Attitudes of the public to medical care: Part 4. Generalpractitioner services

A number of questions were asked concerning general practitioner services. These questions dealt with utilisation, financial arrangements and satisfaction with various aspects of the service, and also with possible changes in the financing of general practitioner services. Nineteen out of 20 respondents had a doctor they recognised as their personal or family doctor and generally members of the same family attended the same doctor. A change of address of doctor or patient was the most common reason for a change of doctor. There appears to be some differences in the pattern of practice between Auckland and Dunedin, house calls being less in Auckland although the total number of patient-doctor contacts in the two cities is much the same. There are some interesting age differences in the distribution of consultations at surgery and at home. There is little enthusiasm for major changes in the financing of the general practitioner services except for some extension of special groups who should receive extra financial assistance from the government. Satisfaction with general practitioners' service is high but there are some specific aspects which could, from the patient's viewpoint, be improved. Reference has already been made to the research philosophy and the survey design (Dixon and others, 1974). In the section of the survey dealing with general practitioner services a total of 20 questions were asked. Five dealt with utilisation of general practitioner services by the respondent and the respondent's household; 12 questions dealt with financing of general practitioner services and three questions with satisfaction with various aspects of general practitioner services.