BMJ 1995;311:1637-1638 (16 December)

Letters

...and south Wales

EDITOR,--After the recent adverse publicity about some third generation contraceptive pills and changed guidelines1 we analysed the number of consultations in which patients were advised about contraception. We practise in an urban area of south Wales, and our list size is 5600. All consultations in this context were initiated by patients.

We routinely code clinical information during consultations on our computer database; this facilitates audit of clinical practice. When a patient is advised about contraception a Read code (6777: contraception counselling) is recorded. Over the 10 weeks before the "pill scare" on 19 October the code for contraception counselling was recorded 18 times (average 1.8 times a week). Over the three weeks after the announcement the code was recorded (week by week) 30, 28, and 27 times (average 28.3).

If it is assumed that these figures are reflected throughout England and Wales the effect on general practitioners' workload nationally can . . . [Full text of this article]


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