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Out of hours primary care centres: characteristics of those attending and declining to attend

Abstract Objectives: To study the number, demography, and clinical details of patients who agreed or refused to attend centralised primary care centres for out of hours medical care and to study the satisfaction with the service of those who attended. Design: Data collected by telephonists and doctors. Satisfaction questionnaires given to patients who attended. Setting: Five out of hours primary care centres in the United Kingdom.—All patients contacting the deputising service to request medical help out of hours who were asked to attend a primary care centre. The study terminated when 1000 patients had agreed to attend (200 from each centre). 1000 patients not agreeing to attend were also sampled. Results: The attendance rate varied from 8.9% to 52.3% in the five centres. The overall standardised attendance rate was 22.4%. The attendance rate was highest in children under 5 (465/2380, 19.5%) and fell with increasing age. Of the 1000 sampled nonattenders, 403 said that they had no transport and 345 said that they were too ill to attend. Those who attended were seen by the doctor more quickly. There was no significant difference between the groups in the number who received a prescription (810 attenders v 820 non-attenders, P=0.57) or who were admitted to hospital (59 v 52, P=0.5). Satisfaction with the service among those who attended was very high; 95% (694/731) said that they would be prepared to attend under similar circumstances in the future. Conclusion: Most patients are not able or prepared to attend a central facility for primary care out of hours. Substantial cultural change will be necessary and careful consideration given to planning if such centres are to provide a major part of out of hours care.