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The impact of co-located NHS walk-in centres on emergency departments

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Salisbury, Chris, Hollinghurst, Sandra, Montgomery, Alan, Cooke, Matthew (Professor of clinical systems design), Munro, James F., Sharp, D. (Deborah) and Chalder, Melanie. (2007) The impact of co-located NHS walk-in centres on emergency departments. Emergency Medicine Journal, Vol.24 (No.4). pp. 265-269. ISSN 1472-0205

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/emj.2006.042507

Abstract

Objectives:
To determine the impact of establishing walk-in centres alongside emergency departments
on attendance rates, visit duration, process, costs and outcome of care.
Methods:
Eight hospitals with co-located emergency departments and walk-in centres were compared
with eight matched emergency departments without walk-in centres. Site visits were
conducted. Routine data about attendance numbers and use of resources were analysed. A
random sample of records of patients attending before and after walk-in centres opened
were also assessed. Patients who had not been admitted to hospital were sent a postal
questionnaire.
Results:
In most sites, the walk-in centres did not have a distinct identity and there were few
differences in the way services were provided compared with control sites. Overall, there
was no evidence of an increase in attendance at sites with walk-in centres, but considerable
variability across sites. The proportion of patients managed within the four-hour NHS target
improved at sites both with and without walk-in centres. There was no evidence of any
difference in re-consultation rates, costs of care or patient outcomes at sites with or without
walk-in centres.
Conclusions:
Most hospitals in this study implemented the walk-in centre concept to a very limited extent.
Consequently there was no evidence of any impact on attendance rates, process, costs or
outcome of care.

Item Type:

Journal Article

Subjects:

R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine

Divisions:

Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):

Emergency medical services -- Great Britain, Triage (Medicine) -- Great Britain, Primary care (Medicine) -- Great Britain, Health services accessibility -- Great Britain

Journal or Publication Title:

Emergency Medicine Journal

Publisher:

BMJ Group

ISSN:

1472-0205

Official Date:

April 2007

Dates:

Date	Event
April 2007	Published

Volume:

Vol.24

Number:

No.4

Page Range:

pp. 265-269

Identification Number:

10.1136/emj.2006.042507

Status:

Peer Reviewed

Access rights to Published version:

Open Access

Funder:

Great Britain. Dept. of Health (DoH)

References:

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