[Problems of the organization of outpatient cardiac consultation services for patients with cardiovascular diseases in a large city].

The experience gained in the study of outpatient consultative cardiac care in a big city such as Leningrad permits one to single out the following stages in the delivery of these services: a polyclinic-based cardiologist--a cardiologist in the consultative-diagnostic polyclinic and (or) an out-patient department at the Research Institute of Cardiology (follow-up centre)--urban specialized centres of consultative care. The main issues requiring improvement in this system are: the necessity of efficient regulation of indications for consultative care at all stages, determination of functional responsibilities of consulting physicians, their role in the system of dispensarization, the drafting of optimum documentation and criteria of performance.