A LIST SYSTEM CAN HELP TO REDUCE THE PROPORTION OF OUT-OF-HOURS REFERRALS FOR MALE-PATIENTS

Objective - To examine differences in referral patterns by general pra ctitioners (GPs) with and GPs without a list of patients. Design - Sur vey of all referrals from primary to secondary care during one week. S etting - Central and northern Finland, in a region comprising 72% of t he area of the country and one-third of the population. Participants - 851 GPs, of whom 199 (23%) had a list system. Outcome measures - Refe rrals in terms of practice characteristics. Results - There were 58 76 0 consultations during the study period, and 2921 patients were referr ed to secondary care. GPs with a list referred 64% of all referred mal e patients and 63% of all referred female patients during normal worki ng hours. The corresponding referral figures for GPs without a list we re 43% and 58%. Conclusion - GPs with a list of patients had a more ap propriate distribution of referrals between normal and out of hours wo rk than GPs without a list. Our results may help in developing solutio ns to problems of providing good primary health care.