TY - JOUR T1 - Preclinic telephone consultations: an observational cohort study JF - Clinical Medicine JO - Clin Med SP - 140 LP - 145 DO - 10.7861/clinmedicine.12-2-140 VL - 12 IS - 2 AU - L O'Byrne AU - NJ Roberts AU - MR Partridge Y1 - 2012/04/01 UR - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/12/2/140.abstract N2 - Patients referred to secondary care for specialist respiratory review frequently undergo multiple hospital attendances for investigations and consultations. This study evaluated the potential of a preclinic telephone consultation and subsequent coordination of tests and face-to-face consultations to reduce hospital visits. Total hospital attendances were recorded for three cohorts (participants, non-participants and comparators) for 6 months from first specialist contact. Patients completed the medical interview satisfaction scale-21 (MISS-21). The study showed that a preclinic telephone consultation can significantly reduce hospital visits over a fixed period without reducing patient satisfaction. In total, 20.8% of the participant group had three or more hospital attendances compared with 42.9% of the non-participant group (p=0.001) and 44.7% of the comparator group (p=0.002). Participants had fewer follow up visits and lower rates of non-attendance/late rearrangement of appointments. This service reduces unnecessary hospital visits, seems to improve patient compliance and may save costs associated with non-attendance and follow up consultations. ER -