WHY ARE NEW PATIENTS COMING TO THE EYE CLINIC - AN ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIVE FREQUENCIES OF OPHTHALMIC DISEASE AMONGST NEW PATIENTS ATTENDING HOSPITAL EYE CLINICS IN 2 SEPARATE LOCATIONS

We have analysed 64 417 patient-attendances by 56 409 patients to a de dicated ophthalmic new patient service to assess the demographic and e pidemiological parameters of this population. Forty-three point five p er cent were male and 56.5% female. Nine per cent of patients were und er 16 years of age while 27.5% were over 70 years. Comparison of patie nts attending an outreach new patient clinic,vith that at the main hos pital showed that a higher proportion of patients under 16 years were seen at the outreach clinic (p < 0.001), whereas the main clinic saw a higher proportion of patients in the 16-69 year age group (p < 0.001) .