In article <00c201bde662$3a6c4700$643d989e@emerg>, Dr Matthew W Cooke
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>
>I do not know of any evidence on whether it encourages primary care
>attenders. I know that some list members will swear it does. But study from
>Nottingham earlier this year showed that areas of social deprivation have
>high primary care attendance rate at A&E. However they also had very high
>rate of GP attendance.
>
The question is:
Does the service you provide influence the use of that service?
Most of us GPs tend to beleive it does - but most of us will also state
that we are probably wrong ;-)
I do know that whilst I was locuming between GP partnerships one A+E
would halve its cover when I and a similar colleague came on and we
would clear the usual 3 hour wait in 1-1.5 hours to almost zero. I
think as a GP I made firmer decisions re discharge and also re. referral
onwards and would take no flack from admitting teams - eg - I wouldnt
need to await the result of a blood test to justify my referral.
We were, however, working as A+E docs not as primary care - I think it
would be difficult to make a useful distinction at the door. How about
GP/A+E docs working side by side and providing each other with guidance?
Cheers :)
--
Dr Jel Coward
'There's no such thing as bad weather - just bad clothing"
Anon Norwegian
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