Increase in 'frequent' GP surgery visitors

Four out of 10 patients seen by GPs are ‘frequent attenders’ – and the number is increasing, a new study has found.

Research published in BMJ Open showed a large proportion of the workload for GPs was taken up by patients who made a disproportionate number of visits to the clinic – patients who visited their GP 90% more than other patients in the same practice.

The number of consultations for those who were frequent attendees doubled in the past 20 years according to the study, which looked at more than 160 million consultation events from 12.3 million patients in 845 general practices between 2000 and 2019.

The research also found that GPs were carrying out more consultations over the telephone and online, but for frequent attenders, face-toface appointments continued to increase.

The study's co-author Professor Evan Kontopantelis, of Manchester University, said: "This is the first study to show that frequent attenders, the top 10% of consulters, have largely and progressively contributed to increased workload in general practices over the last 20 years.

"The increasing demand for consultations from frequent attenders needs to be evaluated in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, they may also have special health and social care needs and, for a variety of reasons, we do not yet fully understand how best to meet them."

Professor Aneez Esmail, another co-author, said: "Our findings show that frequent attenders account for an increasing proportion of faceto-face consultations with GPs and are responsible for nearly 40% of consultations fairly constantly over time."