THE WALLSEND MEDICAL CENTRE A Study of the Workload and of the attitudes of patients and staff

The work of three practices and that passed on by them to other health service staff and agencies was studied for periods before and after the opening of the medical centre (located in the new shopping precinct of Wallsend) to which their main surgery premises was transferred. Samples of the patients were questioned using a postal survey four months and two years respectively after the centre had opened. The views of the doctors were also sought on both occasions.

The overall contact rates of the doctors were slightly higher when in the centre - increased surgery consultation rates more than compensating for lower home visiting rates. Generally the increase was in the numbers of new contacts with a fall in the follow-up contact rates. The two most noticeable changes in the work patterns of the practices were however-(a) a greatly increased request rate for pathology and other analyses, probably as a result of a

specimen collection service being provided for them when they were all based at the centre, and (b) a much increased workload of the nurses attached to the practices - made possible by the existence in the centre of a treatment room which was staffed throughout normal working hours.