RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Defaulters in general practice: reasons for default and patterns of attendance.
JF British Journal of General Practice
JO Br J Gen Pract
FD British Journal of General Practice
SP 50
OP 52
VO 40
IS 331
A1 Cosgrove, M P
YR 1990
UL http://bjgp.org/content/40/331/50.abstract
AB A series of 40 patients in general practice who failed to attend for their appointments were studied to look at their patterns of attendance over the previous five years, together with their reasons for default. The group not only defaulted more often than a group of age and sex matched controls but made significantly more visits to the surgery. Seventeen of the patients increased their default rate as their attendance rate increased over the five year period. The main reasons patients gave for defaulting on the occasion studied were: feeling too ill to attend (eight patients), resolution of symptoms (six) or forgotten/confused appointment time (seven). Four patients were thought by the general practitioner to need a home visit, two of whom were suffering from depression. Further research is needed to define those who would be expected to need a visit.