Quality in Primary Care

Continuity
Professional development
Patient partnership
Holistic care

Good quality healthcare arises from a combination of factors, but it is the proactive committed approach of those that work in healthcare that is at the core.

Continuity

Continuity frontstage (face to face) and back stage (Records) can be seen as a key to part of good quality health care.

Professional development

A professional healthcare worker who reflects on their own practice and improves their own practice will ensure improvements in quality of care. This is facilitated by constructive feedback, a local knowledge database, an experience based resource and educational resources

Education in partnership

A primary care practitioner (such as a general practitioner or nurse) makes a working diagnosis and differentiates minor self limiting illness from serious illness. A primary care practitioners role is education and working in partnership with each patient

Holistic care

A proactive primary care practitioner who addresses all problems presented by the patient is a core part of quality of care. Not just handling the presenting problem and ignoring other problems brought by the patient or noted from the records or the healthcare teams observations. This does not mean dealing with everything at once, but prioritising, organising and signposting to the right person at a suitable time.