Four in ten consultations at GP clinics were with frequent attenders

A relatively small number of patients are accounting for a large proportion of GP workload, including face-to-face consultations, according to a UK study by University of Manchester experts. The study of over 160 million consultation events from 12.3 million patients, in 845 general practices between 2000 and 2019 showed four out of ten of the workload at GP clinics were with frequent attenders. Frequent attenders were patients making a disproportionately higher number of visits to GP clinics each year, defined as more than 90% of all other patients in the same practice. The study, published in BMJ Open also found that among frequent attenders, consultations at GP clinics have doubled in the last 20 years. Consultations with GPs increased from a median of 13 in 2000 to 21 in 2019 and consultations with all staff members of GP clinics increased from 27 to 60. Also, according to the study, face-to-face GP consultations were relatively stable over the study period, whereas other forms of consulting such as telephone or online consultations have become more common. In 2018/19 there was an average of 3.3 face-to-face consultations per patient per year with GPs.