Patients' difficulties in obtaining appointments--a general practice audit.

Information on delays in obtaining appointments in a city practice was collected. The results showed that although overall 89% of patients could be offered appointments with one of the doctors by the next day, only 60% chose to accept one, the remainder electing to wait for a particular doctor or surgery time. When patients making urgent requests for appointments were analysed separately, it was shown that 98% were offered same-day appointments and 96% accepted. Only 17% of patients making an urgent request expressed a preference for a particular doctor or time, compared with 68% of non-urgent requests. The frequency of urgent requests was greater for patients under five years of age and lower for those over 65 years old. The study suggested that longer waiting times for an appointment were the result of patient choice for a particular doctor or time, which in turn was dependent on the degree of urgency, rather than the unavailability of appointments.