Consulting patterns: comparison between doctors' perceptions and patients' behaviour.

Changes in the structure of a practice and the gender of the partners were accompanied by the abandonment of a personal list system. Doctors' opinions about the consulting behaviour of patients in the practice were determined by questionnaire. The notes of 100 patients registered with each of the six partners were examined to determine the nature and number of consultations with each doctor for the years 1980 and 1984. Doctors were found to be unaware of the reasons for which patients consulted different partners. In addition, doctors' opinions about how patients should consult did not correlate with patients' consulting behaviour. It was also found that women consulted the female partners in the practice more commonly than the male partners only after the number of women partners in the practice had increased from one to two.