Characteristics for the population at each period [N (%)]
| Participant* | Before | During | P value |
| 48 650 (100) | 47 207 (100) | ||
| With at least one contact | 38 874 (79.9) | 39 895 (84.5) | |
| With zero contacts | 9776 (20.1) | 7312 (15.5) | |
| Sex* | 0.2546 | ||
| Female | 23 279 (47.8) | 22 415 (47.5) | |
| Male | 25 371 (52.2) | 24 792 (52.5) | |
| Age* | 0.0925 | ||
| Mean age | 43.2 | 43.4 | |
| 0–14 | 6649 (13.7) | 6505 (13.8) | |
| 15–24 | 6396 (13.1) | 5891 (12.5) | |
| 25–34 | 6528 (13.4) | 6375 (13.5) | |
| 35–44 | 5305 (10.9) | 5122 (10.9) | |
| 45–54 | 6146 (12.6) | 5937 (12.6) | |
| 55–64 | 6799 (14.0) | 6723 (14.2) | |
| 65–74 | 5900 (12.1) | 5727 (12.1) | |
| ≥75 | 4927 (10.1) | 4927 (10.4) | |
| Contact type† | |||
| Physical | 35 455 (91.2) | 35 868 (89.9) | <0.001 |
| Phone | 28 574 (73.5) | 27 102 (67.9) | <0.001 |
| 13 430 (34.5) | 22 268 (55.8) | <0.001 | |
| Point of contact† | |||
| GP | 30 932 (63.6) | 27 180 (57.6) | <0.001 |
| Staff | 34 935 (71.8) | 38 498 (81.6) | <0.001 |
| Clinic size * | <0.001 | ||
| Small (<2000) | 9446 (19.4) | 9674 (20.5) | |
| Middle (2000–5999) | 17 552 (36.1) | 16 745 (35.5) | |
| Large (≥6000) | 21 652 (44.5) | 20 788 (44.0) |
Patients can appear in one or more of physical, phone and email but only once in each. A frequent attender, who has had more than one physical contact, will therefore only be counted once in physical contact. A frequent attender with more than one physical contact and more than one phone consultation will similarly be counted once in physical contact and once in phone contact.
*Based on the number of patients.
†Each patient is calculated once if they have had a given contact.
‡
GP, general practice.