We will use two longitudinal datasets from Ireland to investigate the determinants of GP utilisation, focussing on the role of individual characteristics (e.g., health status, public healthcare eligibility, socio-economic status, etc.), and supply-side factors (e.g., distance to a GP surgery). Growing up in Ireland (GUI) is a nationally representative survey of two cohorts of children, recruited at 9 months and 9 years. The Irish Longitudinal Study of Ageing (TILDA) is a nationally representative survey of the community-dwelling population aged 50+ years. As TILDA also includes information on both subjective and objective indicators of hypertension, high cholesterol, atrial fibrillation, osteoporosis and depression, we can further examine the factors determining the probability of being undiagnosed or unaware of these conditions.
The first and second parts of the study will use the detailed GUI and TILDA data to examine the determinants of GP utilisation. As both GUI and TILDA are currently fielding or planning the third wave of data collection, over the duration of this study, we will be able to use longitudinal data analysis techniques to examine the causal impact of various individual characteristics on GP utilisation. Furthermore, by matching the survey data to information on the location of healthcare services in the GeoDirectory, we can examine the extent to which the supply of services impacts on GP utilisation. In the third part of the study, we will exploit the availability of novel data from TILDA on the prevalence of both subjective and objective indicators of chronic disease to examine the extent to which the various individual and supply-side factors interact to determine the probability of being undiagnosed with a chronic disease.
We envisage at least six academic publications and a final conference arising from the project. Findings will be of interest to practitioners, planners and policymakers.
