Equity and the Ethnic Patterning of GP Services in Britain

A characteristic ethnic patterning to health care utilization has often been noted, with minority ethnic groups generally displaying a high or equivalent use of GP services relative to the white population but a lower use of outpatient services. This paper uses data from the General Household Survey to investigate the nature of the GP consultation as the possible occasion of inequity in health care between ethnic groups and the source of differential ethnic "filtering" into secondary care. The results are equivocal, but suggest that there are systematic ethnic differences in the GP consultation indicated by its location and its outcome in terms of pharmaceutical prescription. These results are related to discussions of equity in health care, and it is suggested that the actual occasion of health care utilization has not been appropriately incorporated into most extant conceptions of equity.