Unmet needs and inequalities in primary care
- Principal Investigator: Philip Britteon
- 1 April 2023 to 31 December 2023
- Project No: 645
- Funding round: FR6
Research has shown us that different factors (e.g., age, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, social class) can impact our experience of and access to health care services. For example, fears of prejudice or discrimination may prevent people who are LGBT+ from accessing GP services.
However, no one is just a man or woman, or just black or white, or just working-class or middle-class. Instead, we have multiple characteristics that shape our lives and experiences. These characteristics may combine in different ways to create distinct types of disadvantage. For example, a black woman may experience misogyny and racism, but she will experience misogyny differently from a white woman and racism differently from a black man. This concept is referred to as intersectionality.
So far, researchers have paid little attention to intersectionality when analysing differences in the experience of GP services. Whilst researchers have analysed different types of discrimination, they have tended to do so separately. More research is needed to understand the extent to which different combinations of characteristics may combine to worsen or benefit a patient’s experience of and access to GP services.
To address this limitation, we will use data from a large national annual survey of roughly one million individuals. The GP patient survey contains a wide range of information on GP access, quality and use of services as well as information on the characteristics of the survey respondents. We will use this survey to identify differences in the experiences of GP services based on an individual’s sex, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability status, work status, area of residency, and caring responsibilities. This research will help to identify the most vulnerable groups in society and to understand how interlocking forms of discrimination and disadvantage may create new inequalities.
Addressing health and healthcare inequalities have, and continue to remain key objectives of healthcare systems. The results of this work can help to provide focus for these objectives, helping to identify the most disadvantaged groups in society.
Amount awarded: £50,000