title: Consultants' workload in outpatient clinics.
abstract: The impact on hospital resources of variability in referral rates among general practitioners was of concern throughout the 1980s. The overall number of patients referred to outpatient clinics, however, has increased only slowly since the NHS began; in contrast, the number of new outpatients seen by each hospital consultant has declined appreciably. Ironically, despite this decline, further increasing the number of consultants in now being presented as a solution to the demand for outreach clinics in general practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Practice, United Medical School of Guy's Hospital.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nicoll
mesh_terms: D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003253:Consultants; D006801:Humans; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000600:supply & distribution; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D013222:State Medicine; D006113:United Kingdom; D016526:Workload