A&E or GP – where do patients go when unwell and why?
Increasingly some people favour going to A&E rather than to their GP, for non urgent problems. Why?
The ‘pull’ factor’: A&Es have attractive qualities
Research shows some people favour A&Es over their local GP surgery.
In fact about one in three people prefer not to make appointments, one in five people think A&E doctors know more than GPs (not true, perhaps the opposite), and one in six people think they can get tests done more quickly there than at their GPs.
These people are much more likely to live in deprived areas and have few educational qualifications. What can we do about this? We can make appointments systems easier to navigate in general practice. People who lead difficult lives, and vulnerable groups, can find appointments systems much more difficult to deal with than others.
For example, currently some general practices ask patients to call at 8.30am when they want an urgent appointment and then call the next day if the appointments have run out. If patients don’t want an urgent appointment, just a routine one, they may have to wait weeks.
We also need to educate people about the years of experience most GPs have, and make access to tests more efficient in general practice.
The ‘push factor’: general practice (GP) is not giving some people what they want
Currently half of the adult population of Britain thinks it’s hard to get an appointment with their GP; and one in 10 did not have confidence in GPs at their surgery.
Some of it is about attitude and experience of healthcare. And part is about the quality of local GPs and access to the This varies around the country.
However people who speak positively about their GP, can get appointments quite easily, and so used their GP and not A&E.
But this was not true for everyone and those having negative attitudes and experiences may end up at A&E because they couldn’t get an appointment, thought they wouldn’t get an appointment if they tried, or as a way to avoid their GP.
It’s clear that if we are to reduce numbers of patients heading to A&E (when they could go to their GP), it’s important to strengthen general practice, and increase support for the doctors that work there.
