Consultations in general practice. Analysis of individual frequencies.

Abstract

Some general practitioners complain that they have patients who consult them excessively and that this affects the service they can supply to the rest of their practice. They term these patients "thick-file" cases or the "familiar-face" syndrome (Kemp, 1963). In this article we examine, by curve-fitting and cor- relation analysis, the pattern of doctor/patient con- sultations among 2,810 female patients continuously registered with a three-doctor group practice in 1962-64. Elsewherewepresent(Dudgeon, Froggatt, and Turkington, 1969) results of interviews in a study designed to examine possible associations between certain social and biological factors and the frequency of recorded consultations.