Just shifting the goalposts on this thread slightly; I am due to speak
shortly at our annual GP study day on "Optimising the Interface between
General Practice and the Emergency Department" Any suggestions on what
ought to be covered ? (from the GP or the Emergency perspective)
John Ryan
----- Original Message -----
From: "McCormick Simon Dr, Consultant, A&E" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2005 9:33 AM
Subject: Re: GPs triage
James,
I, together with the medical director of the local OOH primary care
facility, looked at the attendances over one weekend last year. We decided
that about 65% were pure A&E cases; 15% were primary care and 15% were
'crossover' cases. With about 200 patients per day that's the opportunity
to 'loose' 30 patients a day. These are not just simple coughs and colds
either, which can usually be dealt with quite quickly, they include the odd
abdo pains, deteriorated in nursing homes and COPDs that are often time
consuming to see, difficult for juniors to understand and regularly
difficult to discharge. The impact on our work would be quite significant.
Simon
-----Original Message-----
From: James McFetrich [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 28 October 2005 16:07
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: GPs triage
Is there anything showing actual numbers for people who 'inappropriately'
attend A&E?
I appreciate that different departments will have different caseload and the
definition of inappropriate will vary; most people end up saying anecdotally
that 5%, 20%, 50% (insert number as appropriate) of patients who attend A&E
could be dealt with by priimary care.
Has anyone even got local data on this?
James
James McFetrich
Clinical Research Fellow in Emergency Medicine and Education
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