General practitioners' perceptions of sharing workload in group practices: qualitative study

doi:10.1136/bmj.38173.532465.7C

BMJ 2004;329:381 (14 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.38173.532465.7C (published 20 July 2004)

Primary care

General practitioners' perceptions of sharing workload in group practices: qualitative study

Ruben Branson, general practitioner associate¹, David Armstrong, reader in medical sociology¹

¹ Department of General Practice, King's College London, London SE11 6SP

Correspondence to: D Armstrong david.armstrong{at}kcl.ac.uk

Objective To explore general practitioners' beliefs and experiencesof distribution of workload and teamwork between doctors ingeneral practice.

Design Qualitative semistructured interview study.

Setting South London.

Participants 18 general practitioners from 11 practices.

Main outcome measures Perceptions and experiences of distributionof workload and teamwork between doctors.

Results Equitable distribution of workload was a common concernamong general practitioners in group practices. Several waysof addressing the problem were identified, including relyingon trust, creating systems of working based on explicit rulessuch as points' systems, and improving communication. Improvementof communication was hampered by the taboo nature of the problem.

Conclusion Resentment about perceived inequalities in workloadplaces a further burden on general practices. The issue of workingtogether warrants further support.

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