%0 Journal Article
%T Access to general practice and visits to accident and emergency departments in England: cross-sectional analysis of a national patient survey
%J British journal of general practice
%D 2014
%A Cowling, Thomas E.
%A Harris, Matthew J.
%A Watt, Hilary C.
%A Gibbons, Daniel C.
%A Majeed, Azeem
%V 64
%N 624
%P e434-9
%X BACKGROUND: The annual number of unplanned attendances at accident and emergency (A&E) departments in England increased by 11% (2.2 million attendances) between 2008-2009 and 2012-2013. A national review of urgent and emergency care has emphasised the role of access to primary care services in preventing A&E attendances. <br><br>AIM: To estimate the number of A&E attendances in England in 2012-2013 that were preceded by the attending patient being unable to obtain an appointment or a convenient appointment at their general practice. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional analysis of a national survey of adults registered with a GP in England. <br><br>METHOD: The number of general practice consultations in England in 2012-2013 was estimated by extrapolating the linear trend of published data for 2000-2001 to 2008-2009. This parameter was multiplied by the ratio of attempts to obtain a general practice appointment that resulted in an A&E attendance to attempts that resulted in a general practice consultation estimated using the GP Patient Survey 2012-2013. A sensitivity analysis varied the number of consultations by ±12% and the ratio by ±25%. <br><br>RESULTS: An estimated 5.77 million (99.9% confidence interval = 5.49 to 6.05 million) A&E attendances were preceded by the attending patient being unable to obtain a general practice appointment or a convenient appointment, comprising 26.5% of unplanned A&E attendances in England in 2012-2013. The sensitivity analysis produced values between 17.5% and 37.2% of unplanned A&E attendances. <br><br>CONCLUSION: A large number of A&E attendances are likely to be preceded by unsuccessful attempts to obtain convenient general practice appointments in England each year.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
%G en
%I Royal College of General Practitioners
%@ 0960-1643
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.3399/bjgp14X680533