Table 1

Age/sex-standardised rates (per 1000 patients/year) of out-of-hours calls by deprivation.

ID2004 quintileNumber of callsPatient populationaAge/sex-standardised rate (95% CI)
1 (most deprived)6502173 966200 (198 to 201)
25586169 963175 (173 to 177)
35291201 087141 (139 to 142)
45400193 067149 (147 to 150)
5 (least deprived)5145207 881128 (127 to 130)
Total27 924945 964
  • Cases with compete age and sex data (n = 27 924); 192 cases were covered by out-of-hours service provider but patients lived in neighbouring counties so were excluded from the analysis. Data on postcode, age, or sex were missing for 6113 cases.

  • a Patient population based on 2001 Office for National Statistics Census estimates.