Dissemination of information to General Practitioners: a questionnaire survey

Postal questionnaire survey of a randomised sample of 1000 GPs in the Phase I pilot sites of the Neonatal Hearing Screening Programme (NHSP).Responses were received from 54.2% of the sample. Just under 50% of those responding had received information, 62.2% of respondents said they would like to receive more information and the preferred methods of dissemination were the written word and web-sites to allow access when needed. Few GPs perceive themselves to have a core role in the delivery of the NHSP and thence a need for knowledge in the subject. Many are keen to delegate detail to a third party, usually the health visitor, who has traditionally had responsibility for hearing screening.Dissemination efforts for service developments of relevance to GPs should concentrate on advertising a website address via brief but memorable posted literature and/or articles in relevant journals and magazines. The website should be GP-friendly, and have a dedicated area for GPs including information of specific relevance and downloadable information sheets.Approximately 1.65 per 1000 babies born in the UK have a significant permanent hearing impairment (>40 dB HL) detectable at birth [1]. Early recognition and appropriate intervention can reduce the proven negative impact on the development of communication skills [2]. Thus, based on robust evidence [3], in June 2000 the UK Government announced an initiative to introduce effective and appropriate screening for women and children by 2004 [4] which included the implementation of a novel screen for hearing impairment for all newborns in England. Although targeted hearing screening has been in place in some areas for several years, the introduction of a universal service at birth and the proposal to abandon the health visitor distraction screen at the age of 8 months, has implications for the knowledge General Practitioners (GPs) are now expected to have. Thus a crucial part of the implementation of the new service was to provide info