Patient portal registration and healthcare utilisation in general practices in England: a longitudinal cohort study

Abrar Alturkistani; Thomas Beaney; Geva Greenfield; Ceire E Costelloe

doi:10.3399/BJGPO.2023.0106

Patient portal registration and healthcare utilisation in general practices in England: a longitudinal cohort study

BJGP Open. 2024 Apr 30:BJGPO.2023.0106. doi: 10.3399/BJGPO.2023.0106. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Abrar Alturkistani¹, Thomas Beaney², Geva Greenfield³, Ceire E Costelloe⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Global Digital Health Unit, Imperial College London, London, UK Abrar.alturkistani16@imperial.ac.uk.
² National Institute for Health Research Applied Research Collaboration Northwest London, Imperial College London, London, UK.
³ Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
⁴ Health Informatics, Division of Clinical Studies, Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK.

PMID: 38128967
DOI: 10.3399/BJGPO.2023.0106

Abstract

Background: Patient portals introduced in most of England's general practices since 2015 have the potential to improve healthcare efficiency. There is a paucity of information on the use of patient portals within the NHS general practices and the potential impact on healthcare utilisation.

Aim: To investigate the association between patient portal registration and care utilisation (measured by the number of general practice consultations) among general practice patients.

Design & setting: A longitudinal analysis using electronic health record data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD).

Method: We analysed patients registered for patient portals (n = 284 666), aggregating their consultations 1 year before and 1 year after registration. We ran a multilevel negative binomial regression model to examine patient portal registration's association with face-to-face and remote consultations.

Results: Patients who registered to the portal had a small decrease in the total number of face-to-face consultations after registering to the patient portal (incidence rate ratio = 0.93, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.93 to 0.94). Patients who registered to the portal had an increase in the total number of remote consultations after registering to the portal (incidence rate ratio = 1.16, 95% CI = 1.15 to 1.18).

Conclusion: The study found minor changes in consultation numbers post-patient portal registration, notably with an increase in remote consultations. While causality between portal registration and consultation number remains unclear, the potential link between patient portal use and healthcare utilisation warrants further investigation, especially within the NHS, where portal impacts are not well-studied. Detailed portal utilisation data could clarify this relationship.

Keywords: delivery of health care; electronic health records; general practice; patient portals; primary healthcare.