Table 4 The key themes from the interviews with ECR GPs and Partner GPs
From: A study of role expansion: a new GP role in cardiology care
Theme | Majority/consensus | Minority |
|---|---|---|
Extended role | The scheme was broadly accepted by the both the partner GPs and ECR GPs. However the need to balance the roles of both a generalist and a specialist were expressed. | ECR GPs expressed feelings of nervousness and anxiety over their newly adopted role |
“The difficulty is that, we are generalists and asking individual doctors to do more and more in individual clinics would take us away from our role as generalists. I think you have got to be very careful on that front, I think getting that balance right is important” (ECR GP 5) | ||
Workload | GPs felt that the extended role had increased their workload but felt it was definitely beneficial to the practice. The increased work was being responsible for more patients, arrangements of tests and follow-up appointments. Some ECR GPs mentioned that the latter was undertaken in their own time. To avoid overbooking the dedicated sessions many GPs accommodated follow-up work amongst their routine work. | Some had support from administrative staff within their practice, which helped to ease their workload |
Clinical support | The provision and access to clinical support from the cardiologists was considered to be essential to the new role and for the safety of patients. The model facilitated closer working between primary care and the acute hospital through receiving feedback on clinical triage and clinical queries. | |
Benefits | Patients: More convenient for patients to be seen at their GP practice; allows patients to receive continuity of care, more accessible for patients. Main benefit was that being the first point of contact for patients, primary care has the advantage of seeing patients early on in their care pathway, allowing them to intervene and manage appropriately at early stages of patients’ illnesses. | Some ECR GPs expressed a desired to pursue a career in cardiology |
“Found that quite a few patients said it was nice to get the investigations done quickly through [them] and able to come back and talk to [them]” (ECR GP 3). | ||
GP Practice: The ECR GP viewed as the practice’s lead in cardiology and colleagues accessed them for advice and guidance on cardiac conditions, which consequently contributed to a decrease in referrals to secondary care. | ||
Personal level: A positive impact on the GPs’ clinical skills and knowledge which gave them confidence. |