Millions of GP patients turn to A&E

A research suggests that up to 5.77 million patients are now turning to already-strained A&E departments due to lack of GP availability.

12:07 30 June 2014

A research, which analysed figures from England in 2012/13 say that for every 100 patients who tried to get an appointment at their local GP surgery, an average of 1.67 resorted to attending an emergency department instead because they are unable to see their GP. As a result, there are up to 5.77 million visits to A&E departments in England. 

 

Experts from Imperial College London say that this figure represents 26.5per cent of unplanned visits during the said time frame. 

Thomas Cowling, a National Institute for Health Research doctoral research fellow at Imperial College London, said: "There has been a lot of talk in recent years about rising numbers of attendances at A&E and the impact that this might be having on A&E departments.

 

"It has been suggested that a lack of access to GPs could be a factor but there hasn't been much evidence to back this up. Our research has provided a helpful indication of the situation, but we acknowledge the uncertainty present in the estimates."

 

However, the College of Emergency Medicine does not totally agree with the findings. 

 

College president Dr Clifford Mann said: "In our experience most patients we see have made the right call in coming to A&E.

 

"We recently conducted our own research and found that 15% of patients who attended could be safely redirected to their GP.

 

"This is less than the number estimated in the research by Imperial College but still represents 2.1 million patients per year.

 

"It is therefore unarguable that a significant number of patients could be seen elsewhere if that capacity existed."