The upward trends in the prevalence of chronic and acute conditions have been accompanied by an increase in the use of some health services. The proportion of adults and children who had seen a GP in the 14 days prior to interview rose from 12% in 1972 to a peak of 17% in 1993. It fell to 14% in 1998 and has remained at around that level. Similar patterns were seen for trends in hospital outpatient and day-patient rates. Thus, the proportion of people visiting an outpatient or casualty department at least once in the three months prior to interview rose from 10% in 1972 to 16% in 1998 and then declined slightly to 14% in 2001, while the proportion attending as a day-patient in the 12 months prior to interview increased from 4% in 1992 to 7% in 1998 and then remained at that level. The proportion reporting an inpatient stay in the 12 months prior to interview has fluctuated between 8% and 10% since 1982 when it was first monitored.