London, Dec 12 (IANS): Inspired by the story of King Canute - the 11th century monarch who tried to command the incoming tide to halt and not wet his feet and robes - Westgate Medical Practice at Dundee in Scotland have decided to stop fighting the tide and give patients the appointments they want.

Each morning, all patients, calling for immediate or urgent care are invited to attend a daily appointment "pool" at 10.30 a.m.

Reception staff invite patients, if they wish, to state the clinical problem and which doctor they normally see.

Patients are advised that they may have to wait a little longer than usual when attending a "pool" appointment.

When 20 patients had been booked at 10.30 a.m., patients were advised to come at 11.00 a.m. and the next 20 at 11.30 a.m.

Initial evaluation of the new system found appreciative patients, a calm reception atmosphere and improved work patterns for nursing staff.

There are always a basic minimum of four doctors available for the "pool" every morning and patient numbers range from as few as four or five to 60, the authors explained.

Since introducing the "pool", the practice has also seen a marked increase in patients seeing their preferred doctor (from 74 percent in 2009-10 to 87 percent in 2011-12) - and now advises other practices how to implement the system.

"We did not quite manage an evaluation free radical National Health Service (NHS) change but we did try and we kept our feet dry," the authors concluded.

The findings were published in the British Medical Journal.