Healthcare seeking behaviour is defined among others as the time difference between the onset of an illness and getting in contact with a healthcare professional. This study determined the health seeking behaviour of uninsured, out of pocket paying patients that attended a primary care clinic of a teaching hospital, their health outcomes and some sociodemographic characteristics associated. It is a retrospective cross-sectional study carried out between October and December 2022. It used secondary data of 16,030 patients seen at the General Outpatient Clinic of Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital between 2009 and 2018. The patient records were reviewed, and data about the period between symptoms onset and the time of presentation in the clinic, the outcome clinical consultation, and their socio-demographic characteristics, were extracted and analysed. Total of 16,030 patients were seen during the period under review, with 54.2% being females. 90.7%, 95.4% and 94.3% were of Yoruba origin, Christians, and urban dwellers respectively. Among the surveyed 24% of the surveyed presented within 24 hours of onset of illness while 16.5% and 59.5% presented between 24 and 48 hours and above 48 hours after symptom(s) onset respectively. The study observed significant association between timeliness of presentation and health outcomes with p value < 0.05. Severity of illness was observed to determine the timeliness of presentation among uninsured patient attending the primary care clinic.

Keywords : Health-Seeking Behaviour, Uninsured, Health Outcomes, Timeliness Of Presentation, Primary Care Clinic.