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Related Experiment Videos

Telephone consultations in general practice: an additional or alternative service?

A Brown1, D Armstrong

  • 1Department of General Practice, United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals, London.

The British Journal of General Practice : the Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
|December 1, 1995
PubMed
Summary

Telephone consultations in general practice are primarily used as an alternative to in-person visits, not an additional workload. This study found phone-in clinics offer an alternative access point for patients, easing general practitioner workload concerns.

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Area of Science:

  • General Practice
  • Health Services Research
  • Telemedicine

Background:

  • Conflicting evidence exists regarding whether telephone consultations increase or substitute for in-person general practitioner (GP) visits.
  • Understanding patient use patterns is crucial for managing GP workload and service delivery.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze patient characteristics associated with telephone consultations.
  • To determine if telephone consultations serve as an additional or alternative service to in-person GP appointments.

Main Methods:

  • A study was conducted in a general practice with an established 'phone-in clinic'.
  • A questionnaire was administered to patients who used telephone consultations and a matched control group who had not.
  • Medical records were reviewed for repeat prescriptions and consultation frequency.

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Main Results:

  • Patients using telephone consultations were more likely to have young children and receive repeat prescriptions.
  • Only 5% of telephone consultations represented additional GP workload.
  • The majority of telephone consultations (53%) replaced a planned surgery appointment, and 10% replaced a home visit request.

Conclusions:

  • Telephone consultations are predominantly utilized as an alternative access method to primary care.
  • GPs can implement telephone services, such as phone-in clinics, without significant apprehension regarding increased workload.