Table.

Analysis of 413 presentations to 11 general practitioners in Newcastle West

	Problems	Presentations (%)
Total No of problems presented	158	413 (100)
10 most common problems	10	134 (32.4)
Priority problems in guidelines implementation programme*	5	12 (2.9)
Problems presenting three to 10 times	26	130 (31.5)
Problems presenting twice	27	54 (13.1)
Problems presenting once	95	95 (23.0)

^*Criteria for choosing priority areas were: common problem, local health priority, sound evidence base for practice, known variation, and involved hospital and primary care. Prophylaxis of deep vein thrombosis in surgical patients did not fit the final criterion but was considered important enough and had a sound enough evidence base to be implemented in hospitals.