'Breaking up is hard to do': perspectives of general practitioners and patients towards removals from GP lists.
BACKGROUND
The numbers of removals of patients from General Practitioner lists in Ireland is increasing and is a cause for some concern.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the views of both general practitioners and patients toward removals of patients from general practitioner lists.


METHODS
Questionnaire survey to general practitioners in North Inner City Dublin who had removed patients from their list over a 1-year period (n = 45) and to the patients they had removed (n = 86). Follow up semi structured interviews were carried out with five general practitioners and ten patients.


RESULTS
For doctors, the decision to remove a problematic patient from their list is generally a positive experience, providing relief and being associated with certainty in both the decision and the process. For the patient, being removed from a GP's list is a negative experience, stressful and confusing.


CONCLUSIONS
There is a need for the development of a clear responsive, transparent and supportive system for removing patients from a GP list.
Clarke
M
M
Department of Family Medicine and General Practice, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.
Whitford
D L
DL
O'Reilly
F
F
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005194:Family Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D008297:Male; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D016079:Refusal to Treat / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*