General practitioners' main reason for referral by neurologists' rating of organicity (n=300)
| Reason for referral | To what extent can the patient's symptoms be explained by organic disease? | n (%, 95% CI) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not at all | Somewhat | Largely | Completely | ||
| Neurological diagnosis and treatment | 10 | 30 | 46 | 68 | 154 (51%, 46%-57%) |
| Patient request | 1 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 22 (7%, 5%-11%) |
| Reinforce my opinion no disease | 8 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 28 (9%, 6%-13%) |
| Other1-150 | 6 | 3 | 11 | 17 | 37 (12%, 9%-16%) |
| Referred by GP trainee1-151 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 9 (3%, 1%-6%) |
| Referred by other consultant1-152 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 24 (8%, 5%-12%) |
| No reply | 25 (8%) | ||||
↵1-150 This was usually to answer a specific question of management, most commonly the use of anti-convulsants during pregnancy or beta- interferon for multiple sclerosis.
↵1-151 Most GP trainees had left the patient's practice and were therefore unable to endorse a reason for referral. Therefore all GP trainee referrals are listed separately.
↵1-152 Similarly “consultant” referrals were often made by senior house officers or registrars who were unavailable to comment on the reason for referral.