What is the difference between primary and hospital care?

[shortspike07]

What is the difference between primary and hospital care?
i dont live in england, so im having trouble finding anyone who knows the answer to this
cheers

[Touche]

Primary care includes the people that first see a patient in a typical patient journey... GPs. Typically when they see someone they're concerned about and cannot deal with alone they'll refer to a specialist in a hospital. Medicine in a hospital is therefore more specialised with doctors generally looking after patients with problems only in the area of their expertise. That's it in a nutshell anyway.

[Varied A]

Primary care traditionally refers to community based care, and tends to include preventative care (e.g. health screening, health promotion), help to self care, maintenance of long-term health (e.g. day to day management of stable chronic conditions), community health projects, minor illnesses etc (depending on exactly which definition you look to, the long-term stuff actually comes under tertiary care). It is provided by GPs, public health consultants, District Nurses, Practice Nurses, Community Pharmacists, nursing homes, community physios, occupational therapists, dieticians, charities, self-help groups, therapists etc etc etc

Secondary care is traditionally hospital based, although we have things now like specialist clinics in the community, GPwSIs, community based consultants, hospices etc. which have kinda blurred the boundaries. It basically involves utilising specialist knowledge/skills, or providing more intensive care than can be provided in the community.

[Daniel-Wilkins]

The difference between primary and secondary care is also particularly important for the structural organisation of the NHS. Approximately 80% of the NHS' £96 billion budget is held by the Primary Care Trusts or PCTs. GPs then hold a contract with a PCT to provide primary care to n people in the district. The PCTs then commission secondary care services for their patients from NHS Hospital Trusts, Foundation Trusts and NHS Mental Health Trusts. The PCT's budget is determined by the population of the district and based on other epidemiological reasons, such as the average age of the patients in the district etc.

Controlling the PCTs and other trusts in one region of the UK is one of ten Strategic HEalth Authorities or SHAs. The ten SHAs are responsible to the Department of Health (DoH) for implementing policy and directives locally.

[Cas77]

Thanks for the helpful answers!