Service-related factors associated with tendency to contact emergency services
| Factors | Ambulance versus all other options | ED versus all other options, excluding ambulance | ||
| Multivariable model | Multivariable model | |||
| OR (95% CI) | n | OR (95% CI) | n | |
| Preference for ED | ||||
| Prefer ED for quick tests | P=0.115 | P<0.001 | ||
| Disagree/SD | 1 | 1059 | 1 | 980 |
| Neither | 1.4 (0.9 to 2.0) | 694 | 1.4 (1.1 to 1.8) | 602 |
| SA/Agree | 1.5 (0.9 to 2.4) | 309 | 2.1 (1.5 to 2.9) | 252 |
| Missing | ||||
| Travel to ED | P=0.297 | P=0.369 | ||
| Very difficult | 1 | 418 | 1 | 351 |
| Neither | 0.7 (0.5 to 1.2) | 171 | 0.9 (0.7 to 1.2) | 149 |
| Fairly easy | 1.1 (0.7 to 1.6) | 840 | 0.9 (0.7 to 1.2) | 747 |
| Very easy | 0.9 (0.5 to 1.7) | 633 | 0.7 (0.5 to 1.1) | 587 |
| No confidence in GP | P=0.324 | P=0.425 | ||
| SD | 1 | 497 | 1 | 456 |
| Disagree | 1.2 (0.8 to 1.9) | 905 | 0.9 (0.7 to 1.2) | 806 |
| Neither | 1.0 (0.6 to 1.6) | 441 | 0.9 (0.6 to 1.2) | 383 |
| SA/Agree | 0.8 (0.4 to 1.5) | 219 | 0.7 (0.5 to 1.1) | 189 |
| Prefer no appointments | P=0.645 | P=0.499 | ||
| Disagree/SD | 1 | 612 | 1 | 563 |
| Neither | 0.9 (0.6 to 1.3) | 702 | 0.9 (0.7 to 1.1) | 630 |
| SA/Agree | 1.0 (0.7 to 1.5) | 748 | 0.9 (0.7 to 1.2) | 641 |
| ED frequent user in the past 12 months | P=0.008 | P=0.414 | ||
| <3 times | 1 | 1946 | 1 | 1742 |
| 3+ times | 2.1 (1.2 to 3.7) | 116 | 1.2 (0.8 to 1.9) | 92 |
Factors not statistically significant in univariate analysis for either service: desire for services to be open at times convenient to them; ease or difficulty getting GP appointment.
emboldened numbers are where 95% CI does not include 1
SA, strongly agree; SD, strongly disagree.