Does setting up out of hours primary care cooperatives outside a hospital reduce demand for emergency care?
- 1Department of Integrated Care, Research Institute Caphri, University Hospital Maastricht, Netherlands
- 2Department of General Practice, Research Institute Caphri, University of Maastricht, Netherlands
- Correspondence to: C J T van Uden Department of Integrated Care (BZe7), University Hospital Maastricht, PO Box 5800, 6202 AZ Maastricht, Netherlands; caro.vanudenhag.unimaas.nl
- Accepted 30 July 2004
Abstract
Objective: To investigate whether the reorganisation of out of hours primary care, from practice rotas to GP cooperatives, changed utilisation of primary and hospital emergency care.
Methods: During a four week period before and a four week period after the reorganisation of out of hours primary care in a region in the south of the Netherlands all patient contacts with general practitioners and hospital accident and emergency (A&E) departments were analysed.
Results: A 10% increase was found in patient contacts with out of hours primary care, and a 9% decrease in patient contacts with out of hours emergency care. The number of self referrals at the A&E department was reduced by about 4%.
Conclusions: The reorganisation of out of hours primary care has led to a shift in patient contacts from emergency care to primary care.
Footnotes
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Funding: this study was funded by the Districts General Practitioners Association Limburg.
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Conflicts of interest: none declared.
