%0 Journal Article %A Toqir K Mukhtar %A Clare Bankhead %A Sarah Stevens %A Rafael Perera %A Tim A Holt %A Chris Salisbury %A FD Richard Hobbs %T Factors associated with consultation rates in general practice in England, 2013–2014: a cross-sectional study %D 2018 %R 10.3399/bjgp18X695981 %J British Journal of General Practice %P e370-e377 %V 68 %N 670 %X Background Workload in general practice has risen during the last decade, but the factors associated with this increase are unclear.Aim To examine factors associated with consultation rates in general practice.Design and setting A cross-sectional study examining a sample of 304 937 patients registered at 316 English practices between 2013 and 2014, drawn from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink.Method Age, sex, ethnicity, smoking status, and deprivation measures were linked with practice-level data on staffing, rurality, training practice status, and Quality and Outcomes Framework performance. Multilevel analyses of patient consultation rates were conducted.Results Consultations were grouped into three types: all (GP or nurse), GP, and nurse. Non-smokers consulted less than current smokers (all: rate ratio [RR] = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.87 to 0.89; GP: RR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.87 to 0.89; nurse: RR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.90 to 0.92). Consultation rates were higher for those in the most deprived quintile compared with the least deprived quintile (all: RR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.16 to 1.19; GP: RR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.15 to 1.19; nurse: RR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.11 to 1.15). For all three consultation types, consultation rates increased with age and female sex, and varied by ethnicity. Rates in practices with >8 and ≤19 full-time equivalent (FTE) GPs were higher compared with those with ≤2 FTE GPs (all: RR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.06 to 1.49; GP: RR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.19 to 1.56).Conclusion The analyses show consistent trends in factors related to consultation rates in general practice across three types of consultation. These data can be used to inform the development of more sophisticated staffing models, and resource allocation formulae. %U https://bjgp.org/content/bjgp/68/670/e370.full.pdf