Geriatric outpatient clinics: an audit of clinical action, transport and general practitioners' views.

An audit was performed of patients attending geriatric outpatient clinics for review during a calendar month. Patients were asked to complete a brief questionnaire and 93% of case notes were available for study. In 97 attendances, management was altered in 36, a new medical problem found in 16, and 49 patients were discharged. Forty-seven attendances followed recent discharge from hospital; 19 of these patients had no evident clinical benefit from attendance, although the majority were discharged. There may be scope for a liaison nurse to take over the follow-up of some patients to save their attending a clinic. A survey of local general practitioners suggested they would welcome this.