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4. DATAA
ANALYSSIS
OF GP ACTIVITY
DURIING
AFTERR-HOURS
PERIODS
The objective oof
this chapter is to analyze the available a data to
approximation oof
the workload dduring
after-hours periods in differe
of Belgium. Thee
analysis is based
on two main data
sources:
• Data colleccted
from GP circcles:
to get an ins sight into the var
workload dduring
duty periodss,
in particular during
“deep nights”
• Data from the Ministry of Public Health (“M MEDEGA”) coup
NIHDI dataa:
to present the workload of the GPs during thei
periods on call by type of areea.
In order to anaalyze
the data by type of area (urb ban, semi-rural an
we used the cconcept
describedd
by Eurostat ba ased on the typo
municipalities aat
01.01.2008. (see
Appendix 8.6.1) ). 22
give an
ent parts
riation of
”;
led with
r official
nd rural),
ology of
4.1. Patternn
of workload dduring
after-hou urs periods (244
hours)
4.1.1. Objecctives
of the survvey
The first objecttive
of this sectionn
is to give an insight
into the peaak
hours
and slack perioods
during duty peeriods.
Duty period ds are defined ass
periods
on nights, public
holidays or wweek-end
during which w the GPs mmight
be
called for a home
visit or is on consultation in an a organized dutyy
centre
(ODC). This annalysis
is based oon
the number of “contacts” by houur
during
those duty perioods
i.e. calls conssidered
as followe ed by a home visit
and/or
a consultation in
organized duty centres.
The second obbjective
is to definne
more accuratel ly the “deep nightt
period”
by evaluating thhe
number of conntacts
according to t the different deefinitions
of the periods uused
by the GPs themselves (from m 11:00AM or Middnight
to
6:00AM, 7:00AMM
or 8:00AM).
4.1.2. Methoodology
4.1.2.1. Datta
collection andd
limitations
The Ministry off
Public Health innitially
asked to the t 72 GP circless
with a
unique call nummber
to send the data they had to register concerninng
after-
Affter-Hours
Primaary
Care
KCE Reportss
171
hhours
periods (i.ee.
number of conntacts
per hour). Twenty-six (n=226)
of
these
circles sent their available data
for 2010.
TThe
data from 6 GGP
circles were exxploitable
for the aanalyses
per hourr.
The
ddata
from the 20 oother
circles could
not be used, mmainly
given the laay-out
( PDF document, ssynthesis)
and thee
lack of details bby
hour (necessaary
for
the
“deep night peeriods”
analysis). TThe
information used
for the analysses
is
therefore
restricted
to 6 GP circles that might not bee
representative ffor
all
tyypes
of regions (urban – rural – semi-rural). TThe
limitations oof
the
aanalyses
are furtther
due to the consistency andd
quality of the data
aavailable
as for exxample:
• Information noot
recorded for thhe
entire circle (e.g.
only informatioon
for
2 of the 3 munnicipalities
that thee
circle covers),
• Information avvailable
for the home
visits but noot
for the consultaations
in the ODC,
• Missing data: : GPs might be available for theiir
own patients dduring
after-hours peeriods:
this activityy
is not recorded iin
the database off
their
circle. The aanalysis
might thherefore
underesttimate
the numbber
of
contacts,
• Some circles recorded the infformation
if the ccall
led to an effeective
contact or nott,
other circles nott.
44.1.2.2.
Data aanalysis
TThe
number of contacts
per day and
per hour was caalculated
based oon
the
aavailable
data (22010)
from 5 GP
circles. The sixth circle gavee
the
innformation
per daay
and per timefraame
(midnight to 88AM,
8AM to 7PMM
and
77PM
to midnight). . The data from tthis
circle were inncluded
in all anaalyses
eexcept
in the analyyses
specific to thhe
definition of deeep
night period.
TThe
total number of contacts over the year per timeeframe
was divideed
by
the
number of dayys
(week-end, public
holidays and night of the weekk)
the
ccall
service was opened
during thiss
timeframe in ordder
to have a meaan
per
dday.
FFirst,
the number of contacts is preesented
per day and
by hour but also
by
pperiod
of time (dayytime,
evening annd
“dark” night peeriods).
An analysis
per
hhour
was possiblee
for 5 GP circles aand
by period of time
for 6 GP circles.
SSecondly,
the anaalyses
considered different “deep” night period definnitions
( see below) in ordder
to evaluate thhe
consequences in terms of numbber
of