We have been running OOH for the last 2 months. NO increase in A&E attendance, which we have been following very closely. 6% of the calls are upgraded to 999s (chest pains, etc.). There is access to a doctor if required, though really only required for additional prescribing outside the formulary. We also provide transport to Primary Care centres staffed by doctors.
We track calls, responses and transports very closely (unsurprisingly) and found that in Sept, we transported overall 5% LESS patients than Sept. 2003. We ascribe this to the benefits of the enhanced formulary to all patients, including patients accessing care via the 999 system.
Anton
Staffs
In message <[log in to unmask]> Goat <[log in to unmask]> writes:
> Does anyone on the list work in the region where 1y care OOH is ALREADY
> a doctor-free zone?
>
> Was it Lincolnshire somewhere that an OOH call to GP-land is received
> by trained nurses, but NO access to trained GPs. I have no problem with
> the former, but slight concerns with the latter. We in A&E can forget
> just how much work our primary care colleagues do in the community OOH.
> With the best will in the world, I'm not sure if trained nurses will be
> able to deal with all these enquiries as effectively without recourse to
> experienced primary care medics. Same argument goes for paramedic
> practitioners in community.
>
> Will A&E become, by default, the "medical backup" for the less
> straightforward cases?
>
> If so, who in A&E: the SHO? , the SpR? , the on-call Consultant?
>
>
> Goat
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