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Table 1 Types of appointment systems used by general practices in the WHSSB area

From: Improving access for patients – a practice manager questionnaire

Appointment System

Practices

Percentage

Open surgeries (alone or 1 system used among others)

9/56

16.1%

Open surgeries (exclusive with no pre-booking at all)

2/56

3.6%

Some form of pre-booking

54/56

96.4%

Pre-booked

50/56

89.3%

Pre-booked with some emergency slots

46/56

82.1%

Pre-booked with some appointments reserved for 48 hours

33/56

58.9%

Telephone consultations

48/56

85.7%

Telephone triage

28/56

50.0%

Nurses involved in telephone triage

14/28

50.0%

Extras (Patients who needed to, or who requested to, be seen when routine appointment slots were all occupied)

47/56

83.9%

Extras given a specific time to be seen

33/47

70.2%

Extras advised to wait their turn

17/47

36.1%

Nurses involved in seeing extras

20/47

41.9%