Journal of Public Health Medicine 21:88-94 (1999)
© 1999 Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom
What problems do patients present with outside normal general practice surgery hours? A prospective study of the use of general practice and accident and emergency services
AJ Averyz
L Groom
D Boot
S Earwicker
R Carlisle
Division of General Practice, School of Community Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK
Stapleford Health Centre, 97 Derby Road, Nottingham NG9 7AT, UK
z Corresponding author
Background: This study was designed to address some current issues concerning the use of general practice and accident and emergency (A & E) services outside normal surgery hours.
Method: Six general practices in Nottingham (with a combined population of 46 698 patients) were recruited to take part in the study. Over a six month period, data were collected on patient contacts with general practice services and the local A & E department outside normal surgery hours.
Results: General practice services dealt with 63 per cent of first contacts over the course of the study. There were 3181 (136 per 1000 patients per year) contacts with general practitioners and deputizing service doctors (of which 1009 (31.7 per cent) were dealt with by telephone alone) and 1876 (80 per 1000 patients per year) attendances at the A & E department. There were marked differences in the distribution of problems that patients presented to the two types of service. The proportion of presentations dealt with by telephone alone by general practice services varied with the type of presentation. However, the use of the telephone was not particularly high, even for problems such as a sore throat.
Conclusions: Given the differences in presentations to both general practice and A & E services there may be limited scope for altering patients' consulting patterns without making significant changes to service provision. However, there may be scope for increasing the proportion of general practice contact dealt with by telephone alone.
Key words: consultation rates, family practice, emergency services, night care
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