General practitioners’ perspectives on prostate cancer patients’ discharge from secondary care to primary care

Abstract

Background: Survival times for prostate cancer have increased substantially meaning more survivors will be discharged to GP services. There is a need for a greater focus on recovery, health and well-being after treatment and for planning a pathway of follow-up. In order to address these, the transition from hospital to primary care must be managed effectively. We aimed to describe and analyse the preparedness, concerns and experiences of GPs in relation to their role. Methods: 20 telephone interviews were conducted to explore GPs’ perspectives and views on the role of primary care in prostate cancer follow-up. They were audio-recorded and transcribed. An inductive thematic analysis was employed. Findings: Participants described their current role in follow-up pathway, a number of challenges and barriers in assuming this role and potential ways to resolve these and improve their involvement. GPs had reservations about workload, lack of resources, expertise and communication with hospitals. Discussion: Primary care has a significant role in providing follow-up care for prostate cancer survivors, and steps need to be taken to address the barriers identified by this study. GPs recommended better information, additional training and quicker access to specialists. These improvements would help GPs to provide better services to, and improve the experience of, patients. Future research should identify models of best practice to make the process of transferring care from secondary to primary teams a simple and straightforward task for patients and GPs and to inform the development of policy and practice in relation to discharge to community care.