Continuity of care as a predictor of ongoing frequent attendance in primary care: a retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Frequent attenders (FAs) in primary care receive considerable resources with uncertain benefit. Only some FAs attend persistently. Modestly successful models have been built to predict persistent attendance. Nevertheless, an association between relational continuity of care and persistent frequent attendance remains unclear, and could be important considering both the UK government and Royal College of General Practitioner’s (RCGP) aim of improving continuity. AIM: To identify predictive measures (including continuity) for persistent frequent attendance that may be modified in future interventions. DESIGN & SETTING: This is a retrospective cohort study sampling 35 926 adult patients registered in seven Bristol practices. METHOD: The top 3% (1227) of patients by frequency of GP consultations over 6 months were classed as FAs. Individual relational continuity was measured over the same period using the Usual Provider Continuity (UPC) index. Attendance change was calculated for the following 6 months. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to determine variables that predicted attendance change. RESULTS: FAs were on average 8.41 years older (difference 95% confidence interval [CI] = 7.33 to 9.50, P<0.001) and more likely to be female (65.36% versus 57.88%) than non-FAs. In total, 79.30% of FAs decreased attendance over the subsequent 6 months. No association was found between continuity and subsequent attendance. Increasing age was associated with maintained frequent attendance. CONCLUSION: Continuity does not predict change in frequent attendance. In addition to improving continuity, recent government policy is focused on increasing primary care access. If both aims are achieved it will be interesting to observe any effect on frequent attendance.