Assessing statistics for the measurement of workload at a genitourinary medicine clinic

Since January 1985 James Pringle House, the genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinic at London's Middlesex Hospital, has built up an extensive computerized patient database. Yearly statistics relating to 1) individual patients, 2) diagnoses, 3) attendances, and 4) an activity estimator (combining features of attendances and their corresponding diagnoses) are extracted. Each is assessed as a potential tool for quantifying the rising workload associated with the clinic's increased staffing levels and expanded services. Only the activity estimator identifies an upward trend, rising 26.3% from 1985-86 to 1991-92, caused largely by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B related attendances. This activity estimator could provide the basis for a workload reporting facility on all GUM computer systems. The 4 statistics exhibit other useful information, including a 21.0% rate of non-attendance (a substantial hidden addition to workload) and a strong allegiance to the clinic from patients residing outside of the local Health Authority region.