Table 1.
GP, patient, and contact characteristics of OOH primary care telephone contacts
| Variables | Telephone consultation n (%) | Triage to face-to-face contact n (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 4620 (59.2) | 3190 (40.8) |
|
| ||
| GPs answering the telephone callsa | ||
| Mean age, years (min–max) | 50.5 (32–74) | 50.7 (32–74) |
| Sex (male, %) | 3334 (72.2) | 2286 (71.7) |
| Number of shifts within year (mean, SD) | 59.9 (32.6) | 59.0 (32.2) |
|
| ||
| Patient | ||
| Mean age, years (min–max) | 33.0 (0–101) | 35.9 (0–101) |
| Sex (male, %) | 2111 (45.7) | 1566 (49.1) |
|
| ||
| Contact (n, %) | ||
| Reason for encounterb | ||
| Trauma | 402 (8.7) | 250 (7.9) |
| Infections | 200 (4.3) | 61 (1.9) |
| Symptoms/complaints | 3188 (69.2) | 2748 (86.3) |
| Other | 818 (17.8) | 127 (4.0) |
| Duration of health problem, hoursc | ||
| <5 | 1494 (35.4) | 980 (31.9) |
| 5–12 | 988 (23.4) | 738 (24.0) |
| >12–24 | 662 (15.7) | 576 (18.7) |
| >24 | 1079 (25.6) | 780 (25.4) |
| GP-assessed severity | ||
| Severe — needs to be admitted directly | 206 (4.5) | 113 (3.5) |
| Potentially severe — needs to be seen by a doctor | 356 (7.7) | 1556 (48.8) |
| Not severe — but the patient is ill | 3000 (64.9) | 1309 (41.0) |
| Patient is not ill | 820 (17.8) | 101 (3.2) |
| Don’t know | 238 (5.2) | 111 (3.5) |
| Time of contact | ||
| Weekend and holidaysd | 2297 (49.7) | 1810 (56.7) |
| Weekday nights (0 am–8 pm) | 1165 (25.2) | 499 (15.6) |
| Weekdays late afternoon (4 pm–8 pm) | 678 (14.7) | 578 (18.1) |
| Weekday evenings (8 pm–12 pm) | 480 (10.4) | 303 (9.5) |
| Duration to opening hours of patient’s own GP | ||
| <2 hours after own GP’s closing hours | 446 (9.7) | 379 (11.9) |
| <2 hours before own GP’s opening hours | 338 (7.3) | 53 (1.7) |
| >2 hours after own GP’s closing or >2 hours before own GP’s opening hours | 3836 (83.0) | 2758 (86.5) |
a
These are not unique GPs.
b
Clusters of the ICPC classification — component codes for main reason for encounter; 16 of these are missing and not presented in the Table.
c
Answering categories ‘don’t know’ and ‘not relevant’ are recoded as missing and not presented in the Table.
d
Friday 4 pm to Sunday 12 pm, and public holidays.
Min–max = the minimum and maximum ages of patients. SD = standard deviation.