St George's University of London, UK.
BMC Fam Pract. 2010 Dec 20;11:100. doi: 10.1186/1471-2296-11-100.
Approximately one in ten of the UK population are unpaid carers supporting a family member or friend who could not manage without their help, saving the UK economy an estimated £87 billion. This role is known to sometimes have a negative impact on carers and to require support both informally and from statutory services. General practice is a first point of contact for carers but research investigating general practitioners' (GPs') attitudes towards carers and awareness of issues facing carers is rare. This study therefore aimed to identify GPs' attitudes, awareness of issues, and perceptions of the barriers and enablers to provision of services.
Using a self-completion questionnaire distributed at a series of workshops, this study investigates GPs' attitudes to carers; awareness and knowledge of carers' issues; services offered in general practice and barriers to supporting carers.
Seventy eight out of a total of 95 GPs (82% response rate) from a variety of areas in England completed the questionnaires. The GPs identified time, resources and lack of knowledge as barriers, but only 9% agreed with the statement that there is little support they can offer carers. However, nine in ten GPs (89%) feel they have insufficient training here and approximately half of them (47%) lack confidence that they are meeting carers' needs. Confidence in identifying carers is also low (45%). Issues that GPs would look out for amongst carers include emotional and physical health problems and financial and isolation difficulties. GPs specifically highlighted educational and isolation issues for young carers. Few services were described that targeted carers.
GPs recognise that they have an important role to play in supporting carers but would like training and support. Further investigation is needed both to determine how best to train and facilitate GPs and general practice teams in their role in supporting carers and to identify what carers need and want from general practice. Identifying carers' leads or carers' champions amongst practice staff is possibly one way forward. Given the proposed greater commissioning role for primary care, greater understanding here is particularly important.
在英国，大约每十个人中就有一个是无偿照顾者，他们照顾着那些没有他们的帮助就无法自理的家庭成员或朋友，这为英国经济节省了约 870 亿英镑。这个角色有时会对照顾者产生负面影响，并且需要非正式的支持和法定服务的支持。全科医生是照顾者的第一联系点，但很少有研究调查全科医生对照顾者的态度以及他们对照顾者面临的问题的认识。因此，这项研究旨在确定全科医生对照顾者的态度、对照顾者问题的认识和看法，以及提供服务的障碍和促进因素。
本研究采用自我完成问卷的方式，在一系列研讨会上调查了全科医生对照顾者的态度；对照顾者问题的认识和了解；在全科实践中提供的服务以及支持照顾者的障碍。
在英格兰不同地区的总共 95 名全科医生中，有 78 名（82%的回复率）完成了问卷。全科医生认为时间、资源和知识不足是障碍，但只有 9%的人同意他们几乎无法为照顾者提供支持的说法。然而，十分之九的全科医生（89%）认为他们在这里的培训不足，大约一半的人（47%）缺乏满足照顾者需求的信心。识别照顾者的信心也很低（45%）。全科医生会关注照顾者的问题包括情绪和身体健康问题以及经济和孤立困难。全科医生特别强调了年轻照顾者的教育和孤立问题。很少有针对照顾者的服务被描述。
全科医生认识到他们在支持照顾者方面发挥着重要作用，但他们希望接受培训和支持。需要进一步调查，以确定如何最好地培训和促进全科医生和全科医生团队在支持照顾者方面的作用，并确定照顾者从全科医生那里需要和想要什么。在实践人员中确定照顾者的负责人或照顾者的拥护者可能是一种方法。鉴于初级保健拟议的更大的委托作用，这里的理解尤为重要。
