Quality of service provided by a University Hospital: general practitioners' opinion

Objective: The interface between primary care and hospital care is the main divide in the delivery of health care. The aim of this study was to assess the opinion of general practitioners (GPs) on the quality of service provided by hospitals and their relationships with hospital teams. Methods: Self-administered questionnaires were mailed to GPs belonging to the Grenoble University Hospital health territory. Results : Among the 778 GPs included in the study, 327 (42%) returned an evaluable questionnaire. The overall satisfaction score was 55.5/100. The indicator for care delivered to patients obtained the highest mean score (66/100), followed by indicators for continuity of care (45/100) and access to health care (43.9/100). Lowest scores were obtained for the discharge summary (35.9/100) and preparation of hospital discharge (29.3/100). GPs were critical about their relationships with hospital physicians, particularly concerning the difficulty of contacting hospital physicians (20.2% of favourable opinions). They were dissatisfied with the time required to obtain information (17.1%) and considered that hospital physicians did not allow them to be actively involved in decisions concerning their patients (4.6%). Conclusion: Communication between GPs and hospital physician was unsatisfactory. This study proposes ways of improving the interface between hospital and primary care.