The effect of radiology guidelines for general practitioners in Plymouth.

The impact of introducing guidelines to General Practitioners using the radiodiagnostic services in the Plymouth Health District has been analysed. The guidelines were advisory and issued to all General Practitioners in the area served by the Plymouth group of hospitals. There was no vetting of requests from Practitioners following their introduction. Three 6 month periods were considered; two before the guidelines were introduced and one after. An overall reduction of 23% in referrals was achieved. An analysis by examination showed that only those examinations specifically targeted in the guidelines showed a significant reduction. In the case of targeted examinations, a reduction of 28% (P less than 0.001) was demonstrated.