Primary Health Care in London--changes Since the Acheson Report

Objective: To examine changes in primary care in London in the 11 years since the Acheson report on primary health care in inner London.

Design: Analysis of key data from the family health services authority performance indicators and from the Department of Health; study of trends since the time of the Acheson report; examination of the provision of primary care in 1990-1 and its relation to health and social factors.

Setting: Comparisons between the family health services authorities of inner London, outer London, and England as a whole, with a special study of Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester.

Subjects: The family health services authorities of England.

Results: There has been an improvement in the provision of primary care in inner London as judged by the criteria of the Acheson report, but these improvements have occurred only as part of an overall improvement in the provision of primary care in the country as a whole. None of the recommendations of the Acheson report specifically oriented to London have been implemented. There are some worrying trends in inner London, such as the increasing proportion of practices with more than 2500 patients. The problems faced by practitioners in inner London resemble those in other large inner city areas, but the primary care provision to deal with them is relatively poor.