How this fits in

Increasing general practice workload owing to rising consultation rates may be compounded by increasing complexity of consultations. Exploring these effects requires a valid and reliable measure of consultation complexity but there are no well-accepted measures. The authors have developed a suitable measure, starting with factors that GPs believe increase complexity and demonstrating those that are associated with longer consultations. The complexity measure presented in this study may be useful for research, management, and policy, for example in allocating resources.