PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - M Luthra
AU  - M N Marshall
TI  - How do general practices manage requests from patients for 'same-day' appointments? A questionnaire survey.
DP  - 2001 Jan 01
TA  - British Journal of General Practice
PG  - 39--41
VI  - 51
IP  - 462
4099  - http://bjgp.org/content/51/462/39.short
4100  - http://bjgp.org/content/51/462/39.full
SO  - Br J Gen Pract2001 Jan 01; 51
AB  - Same-day appointment requests are common and can be problematic for general practices that run appointment systems. In a questionnaire survey sent to 90 general practices in one health authority area (response rate 88%), a variety of management systems existed for dealing with same-day appointment requests. Managing the requests was found to be a significant cause of stress for many general practitioners. Registrars, locums, and practice nurses play only a small part in meeting patient demands and few practices operate telephone triage to help manage these requests.