Patient's Perception of Primary Health Care Provision With Respect to Access, Continuity and Coordination—InCept: An International Qualitative Perspective

Health care systems are confronted with an increasing burden of (multi-)morbidity and a shortfall of healthcare providers. Coordination and continuity of care in chronic and multi-morbid patient is especially important. As qualitative patient experience data within care processes is scarce, we aim to increase the understanding of chronically ill patient's perspectives by assessing patient experiences in different health systems while treated in primary care. Patients were recruited via GPs from Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and the British island of Jersey. To ascertain regular healthcare utilisation, inclusion criteria were either a stroke, and/or a myocardial infarction or heart failure during the past year, and an underlying metabolic syndrome. Identical semi-structured interview-guides were used in the respective language. Transcribed interviews were analysed according to inductive-deductive qualitative content analysis. Based on 22 interviews we derived four main categories (patient centeredness, continuity, coordination, access). Overall, healthcare processes were considered positive if information flow was personal and functional. Non-physician staff seemed to create reassurance. A long-lasting doctor-patient relationship was connected to the context of trust and security. Patients were critical of a perceived lack of time, inducing insufficient counselling and information-flow. This international explorative study suggests that patients' experiences can provide important information about care provision. Patients consistently focused more on relational aspects rather than on structures or functions. This has connotations for healthcare planning; for example, by providing non-physician staff to support patients through their care pathway and to improve the cooperation between providers.