General Practice is the primary provider of health care in Denmark from cradle to grave and has consequently the main responsibility for coordinating care and treating most chronic diseases.
GPs incorporate their patient's needs and preferences when providing healthcare to their patients, but huge variation in quality and services provided by general practice can be observed. Even though old people account for the majority of the GPs’ consultations, research has not addressed the quality of care and services provided to old people in the last years of their lives, and how these matters relate to functioning, well-being and socioeconomic position.
Survey information on functioning and perceived well-being of Danes born between 1895 and 1915 combined with the Danish registers are a perfect match to investigate time trends among the oldest old in a general practice setting as well as the interaction with the rest of the health care sector.
- Have health care management changed over time for different chronic diseases in the general practice, and how do patients and health care professionals perceive health care provided by GPs?
- To what extent are level of function, socioeconomic position and existence of chronic diseases associated with health care management in general practice, and how have the observed pattern(s) changed over time?
- To what extent has the perception of well-being changed over time and how is this linked to health care management?
The combination of qualitative data based on interviews with users (old patients) and health care providers as well as our our user-panel raises the potential, thorugh this work package, to identify areas in which the services provided by general practice to the oldest old patients during the last years of their lives could be improved.