Inappropriate reattendances in out-patient departments

In an attempt to identify the number and characteristics of inappropriate reattendances at out-patient clinics, clinic doctors and patients in two specialties throughout a health district were given a questionnaire to complete on every patient attendance over one week. Four hundred and fifty-two patients were seen, and 293 were asked to reattend: in some 80 of the latter cases the clinic doctor felt that the GP could nevertheless manage the problem. These 'inappropriate' invitations to reattend were more likely to be given by junior hospital staff to long-standing patients of the clinic attending for monitoring purposes. The patients involved in these 'inappropriate' requests to reattend also tended to think that their GP could manage the problem. It is concluded that discharge policy needs to be made more explicit and training for juniors organized if out-patient resources are to be used most efficiently.