Outpatients and their Doctors: a Study of Patients, Potential Patients, General Practitioners and Hospital Doctors, 1989

<P>Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.</P><br>The purpose of the study is twofold:<br>
1. To look at the responsiveness of outpatient services to patients; their experiences and views of the process of referral and the extent and circumstances in which they want and seek a referral.<br>
2. To consider the outcome of attendance at outpatient clinics as perceived by patients, general practitioners and hospital consultants and to examine the extent of congruence between these three viewpoints.<br><B>Main Topics</B>:<BR><br>The process of referral; the appropriateness of referral; potential patients (those who would like to have been referred but were not); social implications for patients of attendance; reasons for referral and what happens at clinics; perceptions of outcomes in terms of recovery and discharge; relationships between patients, general practitioners and hospital doctors.