Genitourinary medicine services; consumers' views

Three hundred patients attending a department of genitourinary medicine were asked their opinion of various aspects of the current services and those which should be provided in a new department. A majority of patients wanted the clinic to be open in the evening and to be sited away from the main out-patients department. Three quarters of the patients wanted to maintain an open access system although more than half would have liked appointments to be available. A small majority wanted to be addressed by name rather than number. Nineteen per cent of men and 50% of women wished to be examined by a doctor of the same sex but only 16% of men expected to be examined by a male nurse. Most patients did not want the result of the consultation to be sent to their general practitioner (GP) without their consent but 71% of women agreed to their GP being informed of the result of their cervical cytology test.