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GP referral to an eating disorder service: why the wide variation?
1Department of General Psychiatry, St George's Hospital Medical School, London. phugo@sghms.ac.uk
Background:
Early detection and management of patients with eating disorders is thought to improve prognosis, yet little is known about the factors associated with referral of these patients to treatment centres.
Aim:
To calculate general practitioner (GP) referral rates to a specialist eating disorder service and determine the association between referral rate and general practice and practitioner factors.
Method:
Referral rate was calculated from a database of routine referrals to St George's Hospital Eating Disorder Service from January 1990 to May 1996 and correlated with practice and practitioner details obtained from medical directories and health authority data.
Results:
There was a wide variation in referral rates. A higher referral rate was found to be associated with practice size, proximity to the clinic, female GPs, GPs having the MRCGP qualification, being United Kingdom qualified, and offering full contraceptive services. Fundholding was associated with lower rates of referral.
Conclusion:
Patients with eating disorders may be at a disadvantage in certain practices. Educational interventions could be targeted towards low referrals.