Examining the Effect of General Practitioner Practice Size on Prescribing Behaviours in Northern Ireland

Abstract

This study uses classifications of Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan behavioural archetypes of General Practitioner practice in Northern Ireland and seeks to examine any associations between practice size and each archetype. It was found that the highest prescribing levels were in Small practices with two registered doctors for both archetypes. The lowest levels of prescribing were found in Single-Handed practices with only one registered doctor in Non-Metropolitan areas whilst Large practices with five or more registered doctors had the lowest prescribing levels in Metropolitan areas. One possible reason for Large practices having the lowest prescribing rates in Metropolitan areas may be the availability of more alternatives to medication. The highest prescribing levels in Non-Metropolitan areas were almost 4% higher than the lowest. This difference rose to 32% in Metropolitan areas. Further research into this difference is needed with deprivation levels found in Metropolitan areas being a possible factor. Examining each practice size individually showed that the same archetypes (i.e. Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan) is also observed at this level with the number of registered patients increasing in line with the size of the practice although practices in Non-Metropolitan areas generally had more patients than those in Metropolitan areas.