Competing for patients: understanding consumer evaluation of primary care.

The introduction of a competitive market into primary care means that general practitioners must consider the way in which their patients evaluate the service which they receive. Reports the results of an exploratory study carried out in Scotland to investigate the evaluative strategies used by patients in assessing the service they receive. Identifies six particular dimensions of the care process which have implications for GPs protecting their existing patient lists and in understanding how to attract new patients. Suggests through its results that while communicating certain features of the service to potential patients is relatively straightforward, the experiential nature of primary care services leads to a reliance on word-of-mouth communication which depends on ensuring that existing patients are satisfied.