Are there any differences between patients attending a genitourinary medicine clinic with appointments and those without?

Abstract

The aim of this study is to identify the demographic and diagnostic characteristics of patients attending a genitourinary medicine clinic with booked appointments and compare them with those of walk-in attendees. During a period of three months, 749 patients were seen with new episodes; 61% of them had booked appointments; 50.6% of walk-in attendees had symptoms compared with 40.6% in the appointment category; 58.6% of walk-in attendees gave specific reasons for attendance other than asymptomatic requests for sexual health assessment and tests, compared with 48.1% in the appointment category. It is more likely that students and individuals in employment to attend with appointments. The majority of individuals made the right decision for themselves whether to book appointments or just walk-in. The rates of non-D3 codes and sexually transmitted infections in the two groups were not statistically different.