Warwick Medical School authors, Dr Helen Atherton, Dr Jo Parsons and Dr Carol Bryce looked at the rate of missed GP appointments in the UK. Their findings are published in the BJGP and Jo Parsons is also interviewed in a podcast discussing some of the findings and implications of this work.

Missed general practice appointments have considerable time and cost implications for the NHS, and leaves patients with unmet health needs, and potentially delayed diagnoses or medical treatment. This systematic review, entitled ‘Which patients miss appointments with general practice and the reasons why’ updated work conducted in 2003, and aimed to examine the rate of missed booked appointments, which patients are more likely to miss appointments, and some reasons for this. Findings of this review has potential implications for practices in targeting interventions to patients that are at increased likelihood of missing appointments, and in attempting to overcome common reasons that appointments are missed.

More information can be found on the GP Online webpages here.

A new study by our researchers has revealed that over 40% of GPs intend to leave general practice over the next five years - an increase of nearly a third since 2014.

A personalised online resource specifically for carers of older people in the UK has been launched by the University of Warwick.

It has been developed by primary care specialists and researchers at Warwick Medical School, GPs, the NHS and local authority managers, with very close involvement from Age UK Warwickshire and carers group, and funded by the NHS, Warwickshire County Council and Global Initiative's 100k Social Digital Fund.

Called Care Companion www.carecompanion.org.uk, it is being launched during national Carers Week 11-17 June 2018.

A delegation from Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health visited the University of Warwick on the 8th March to learn about healthcare in the UK and find out about how the NHS tackles population health within the NHS.

The realities of implementing alternatives to face-to-face GP consultations, such as telephone, email, online and video consultations, mean that hoped-for reductions in GP workload and increases in available appointments for patients might not be realised according to a study led by Helen Atherton of Warwick Medical School.