What’s been tried? A catalogue of efforts to improve access to general practice, 1984 to 2023: methods

What’s been tried? A catalogue of efforts to improve access to general practice, 1984 to 2023: methods note Aims We aimed to identify, catalogue and categorise attempts to improve access to general practice, specifically to: • develop a list of interventions for improving access to general practice, including approaches that have already been tried, are ongoing or have been proposed • categorise t. [...] We sought descriptions of these interventions in the academic literature and other sources, including, for example programme reports, evaluation reports and the websites of NHS England, NHS Futures, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Health Foundation, The King’s Fund and the Nuffield Trust. [...] • We included interventions that addressed any of the seven features of access set out in the candidacy framework,1 and interventions that addressed access to general practice directly (eg, speed of appointments) and indirectly (eg, improving access through improving efficiency). [...] • The results of the search were used to refine and recategorise the initial list and categorisation. [...] The six overarching categories were: • appointment innovations • direct patient access to services that remove need to access general practice • increasing the number and range of professionals available to see patients within general practice • offering contacts beyond core hours, core settings and core services • supporting patient engagement, empowerment, and education • supporting the internal.