TY - JOUR T1 - Does setting up out of hours primary care cooperatives outside a hospital reduce demand for emergency care? JF - Emergency Medicine Journal JO - Emerg Med J SP - 722 LP - 723 DO - 10.1136/emj.2004.016071 VL - 21 IS - 6 AU - C J T van Uden AU - H F J M Crebolder Y1 - 2004/11/01 UR - http://emj.bmj.com/content/21/6/722.abstract N2 - 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. ER -