Demographic and practice factors predicting repeated non-attendance in primary care: a national retrospective cohort analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Addressing the causes of low engagement in health care is a prerequisite for reducing health inequalities. People who miss multiple appointments are an under-researched group who might have substantial unmet health needs. Individual-level patterns of missed general practice appointments might thus provide a risk marker for vulnerability and poor health outcomes. We sought to ascertain the contributions of patient and practice factors to the likelihood of missing general practice appointments.

Methods

For this national retrospective cohort analysis, we extracted UK National Health Service general practice data that were routinely collected across Scotland between Sept 5, 2013, and Sept 5, 2016. We calculated the per-patient number of missed appointments from indivi

SUBMITTER: Ellis DA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5725414 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature