There is no association between a measure of clinical care and the response rate of GPs to postal surveys: A methodological study

Background: There has been much research into factors that can be modified to improve the response rates of general practitioners to surveys and to the demographic characteristics of those who do and do not respond. However, response is yet to be considered with respect to the quality of clinical care provided by GPs. In the UK, one measure of quality of care is the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) score achieved by a general practice. Objective: This study considers the association of QOF score with response to self-completion postal surveys of general practitioners. Methods: Data are taken from two postal surveys of general practitioners (GPs) in the UK regarding their attitudes to osteoarthritis (OA) and sickness certification respectively. Logistic regression was used to assess the association between survey response and QOF score (as a proxy for quality of clinical care), adjusting for other characteristics of GPs and their practices (list size, number of partners, geographical region). Results: There was no significant association of QOF score with survey response in either study, before or after adjustment for the other characteristics. Conclusion: There is no evidence of an association between QOF score and the response of GPs to postal surveys. This gives reassurance that samples for studies of GP attitudes and practices should not suffer from response bias in relation to this core characteristic that represents the clinical achievement of their practice.