BACKGROUND Addressing the causes of low engagement in health care is a prerequisite for reducing health inequalities. People who miss multiple appointments are an under-researched group who might have substantial unmet health needs. Individual-level patterns of missed general practice appointments might thus provide a risk marker for vulnerability and poor health outcomes. We sought to ascertai...

OBJECTIVE To study the effects of using a population-based informatics system for osteoporosis screening and treatment in women aged 65 years or older. DESIGN A population-based informatics system (PRECARES: PREventive CAre REminder System) was implemented to meet the needs of the workflow of a primary care practice. Patients treated in either of two sections of a primary care internal medici...

Background Partington Family Practice is based in one of the most socio-economically deprived areas in Greater Manchester. The practice installed an SMS appointment reminder system in 2009 to decrease the DNA rates of its high proportion of service resistant patients. The aims of this project are to investigate how effective this service has been and consider any future services that could furt...

During a severe financial crisis, it is a priority to use scientific evidence to identify factors that enable therapeutic compliance by patients. This study aimed to evaluate a possible association between the number of patients who attended a medical appointment and had medicine prescribed and the number of these same patients who purchased the prescribed medicine and whether the level of reim...

BACKGROUND Fewer patients are recorded by practices as having hypertension than are identified in systematic population surveys. However, as more patients are recorded on practice hypertension registers, mortality from coronary heart disease and stroke declines. AIM To determine whether the number of GPs per 1000 practice population is associated with the number of patients recorded by practi...

BACKGROUND/AIM Every day, a substantial proportion of the general population experiences the distressing and frightening signs of an upcoming psychiatric illness. The consequences can be enormous because severe psychiatric disorders typically cause the loss of the ability to work and often mean a long-term burden for both the patients and their families. Even though most developed countries hav...

Background. High no-show rates can burden clinic productivity and affect patient care. Although multiple studies have shown that text messages improve appointment adherence, very little research has focused on low-income and predominantly African American populations in resident clinic settings. Objectives. To determine whether incorporating a text message reminder reduces the no-show rate at a...