Variable | Missing | Freq (%) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
GP characteristics (n = 125) | |||
 Sex | 0 |  |  |
  Male |  | 54 (43.2) |  |
  Female |  | 71 (56.8) |  |
 Country trained | 2 |  | Overseas-trained GPs include those trained in the UK, South Africa, Sri Lanka, among others |
  New Zealand |  | 83 (67.5) | |
  Overseas |  | 40 (32.5) | |
 Years since graduation, mean (SD) | 2 | 24.3 (9.0) |  |
 Years in general practice, mean (SD) | 16 | 17.4 (8.7) |  |
 Years at this practice, mean (SD) | 16 | 12.8 (9.2) |  |
 Number of older patients, mean (SD) | 0 | 65.6 (57.7) |  |
 0.6 full time equivalent or higher | 16 | 84 (77.1) | Full time equivalent calculated as number of clinical sessions per week / 10 |
 Position | 17 |  | Owners refer to sole owners or partners, associates are GPs on the practice partnership track, and locums are GPs who are not owners or salaried employees of the practice |
  Owner or associate |  | 93 (86.1) | |
  Locum or employed GP |  | 15 (13.9) | |
Practice characteristics (n = 60) | |||
 NZDep06 of practice location | 0 |  | Higher decile areas represent areas with greater levels of deprivation |
  1st to 8th decile |  | 43 (71.7) | |
  9th to 10th decile |  | 17 (28.3) | |
 Area type of practice location | 0 |  | Determined using geographic concordance files from Statistics New Zealand [29]; other area types include satellite urban communities and independent urban communities |
  Main urban centre |  | 56 (93.3) | |
  Other |  | 4 (6.7) | |
 ≥ 10% patients aged 75+ | 11 | 16 (32.7) |  |
 ≥ 10% Maori patients | 11 | 18 (36.7) |  |
 5000 enrolled patients or more | 11 | 19 (38.8) |  |
 7 GPs or more | 6 | 19 (35.2) |  |
 ≥ 30% locum GPs | 6 | 18 (33.3) | We assumed that having a smaller proportion of locum GPs promotes continuity of care |
 Formal assessment tool | 3 | 4 (7.0) | Always using a formal assessment tool to help determine whether older patients have special needs |
 Clinical audit for frail older patients | 3 | 7 (12.3) | Regularly auditing the practice to identify frail older people who may need additional support or an assessment |
 Clinics for frail older patients | 4 | 21 (37.5) | Regularly having clinics for frail older patients to identify need or disability risk |
 Home visits | 3 | 46 (80.7) | Providing regular home visits for older patients who need them |
 Proactive contacts, any type | 3 | 45 (79.0) | Systematically contacting patients for any of the three reasons specified |
  Missed appointments | 3 | 43 (75.4) | |
  Prescriptions not renewed | 4 | 15 (26.8) | |
  No check up in a long time | 4 | 21 (37.5) | |
 Number of practice activities | 3 |  | A summary score adding the number of positive responses reported by practices to the five proactive processes described above (using assessment tools, auditing the practice, having clinics for frail older patients, home visiting, and systematically contacting patients); an alternative score that considered types of proactive contacts as separate activities (range 0–7) was also calculated |
  None |  | 4 (7.0) | |
  1 to 2 |  | 36 (63.2) | |
  3 to 5 |  | 17 (29.8) |