Emergency medical care

Abstract

A survey carried out over five periods between 1973 and 1975 to study the mode of referral of emergency medical patients to a district general hospital showed that, out of a total of 2511 patients, 51% referred themselves, 40.8% were referred by general practitioners, and only 4.7% by doctors employed by the emergency treatment service. Of the 1720 patients admitted to the medical wards, 50.9% were referred by general practitioners and 37.3% were self-referred while the corresponding figures for the 791 not admitted were 19% and 80-7% respectively. Two-thirds of the self-referred patients came from their own homes, usually by ambulance ordered by a “999” emergency call. The figures were similar in each of the five periods. © 1976, British Medical Journal Publishing Group. All rights reserved.