Patients attending an accident and emergency department for primary medical care

An increasing number of people seek primary care at casualtyor accident and emergency departments of hospitals. A questionnairewas completed by patients attending for primary care at an Australianhospital. The study aimed to determine why patients chose thehospital fortheir medical care, whether patients triaged tothe Primary Care Unit differed from patients triaged to theCasualty section of the Accident and Emergency Department, andwhether the characteristics of patients attending at daytimediffered from those attending out of hours. There were no significantdifferences between daytime and out-of-hours attenders accordingto sex or whether born in Australia or not. More children presentedat night or at the weekend; more older people presented by day.There were more single, divorced, separated and widowed patientsamong the daytime attenders. Daytime attenders had significantlylower incomes than out-of-hours attenders, were less likelyto have a local general practitioner or full health insurance:most had a health care card and cost may have been a factorin their attendance. Out-of-hours attenders who had a localgeneral practitioner appeared to be unaware of any deputizingservices or had rejected them in favour of the hospital service.