Table 3.

Unscheduled care contact reasons, attendance types, and clinical priorities

GPOOHGPOOH (N= 5749 attendances),n (%)A&E (N= 1165 attendances),n (%)A&E
Coded reason for contactaCoded reason for contact
Palliative care1109 (24.2)a216 (18.5)Unwell
Pain482 (10.5)a336 (28.8)Pain
Breathlessness105 (2.3)a143 (12.3)Breathlessness
Infection561 (12.2)a30 (2.6)Infection
GI symptom330 (7.2)a28 (2.4)GI symptom
Acute neurological symptoms50 (1.1)a164 (14.1)Acute neurological condition
Mental health20 (0.4)a1 (0.1)Mental health
Medication request257 (5.6)a172 (14.8)Fall
Other1673 (36.5)a75 (6.4)Other
Missing1162 (20.2)0Missing
Attendance type and setting for GP contactMode of arrival
Home visit2876 (50.0)848 (72.8)Ambulance
NHS24 nurse advice592 (10.3)305 (26.2)Private transport
District nurse visit548 (9.5)6 (0.5)Public transport
In-person attendance for appointment at OOH centre410 (7.1)6 (0.5)Other
See and treat297 (5.2)
Telephone advice from GP934 (16.2)
Other92 (1.6)
Clinical priority ascribedClinical priority ascribed
Emergency342 (5.9)227 (19.5)Resuscitation
Urgent1854 (32.2)613 (52.6)Majors
Routine3110 (54.1)325 (27.9)Minors
NHS24 Advice443 (7.7)
  • a Contacts with missing clinical coding, n = 1162, were excluded from the denominator when calculating percentage. There are 5749 total GPOOH consultations and 4587 ‘coded’ GP OOH consultations (consultations for which there is a clinical Read Code given, which excludes the 1162 consultations that are ‘missing’ Read Codes/uncoded). The percentages given use 4587 as the denominator in order to give the percentage of coded contacts. A&E = accident and emergency services. GI = gastrointestinal. GPOOH = GP out-of-hours service.