Next please: a review of dietetic out-patient attendance.

During a 12-month period all new out-patients referred for dietetic advice to the Mid-Ulster Hospital, Magherafelt were carefully monitored with respect to age, sex, weight, reason for referral and source of referral. Their degree of interest and compliance with their diet as measured by their follow-up rate was recorded. Weight-reduction patients provided the bulk of new referrals, and the main source of patients generally was the hospital out-patient department. Diabetic and weight-reduction patients showed similar trends in follow-up rates with 46 per cent and 42 per cent of the total referrals respectively being classified as 'regular' attenders. Weight loss in weight-reduction patients who returned for reviews was encouraging, being on average 5.0 kg per patient. Drop-out rates for all patients were high.