Management of hypertension--a study of hospital outpatient practice.

In this third report on the management of hypertension by general practitioners and hospital physicians we review hospital outpatient practice in a representative sample of 90 new patients and 436 returning patients attending the clinics of three Edinburgh hospitals. Seventyeight per cent of the new patients were seen by a consultant or senior registrar. An unacceptable number of deficiencies was found in clinical assessment and these are discussed. Consultants are shown to be more conservative than junior hospital doctors in their treatment of hypertension.