Number of appointments required for a definitive outcome
At the time of data collection, 64 (85%) patients who had undergone an
initial face-to-face consultation and 59 (79%) patients who had
undergone an initial telephone consultation, had received a definitive
outcome. The remaining patients were receiving ongoing follow-up. The
mean (SD) number of appointments required to reach a definitive outcome
was 1.22 (0.58) in the face-to-face cohort versus 1.75 (0.73) in the
telephone cohort (p<0.001).