Health bulletin
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To determine the impact, in terms of new attendance figures and types of patients attending, on a city centre accident and emergency (A & E) department following the establishment of out-of-hours primary care emergency centres (PCECs) in Glasgow. ⋯ Our results suggest that the new PCEC service has not had a significant impact on the number or type of patients attending this A&E department, with fewer self-referred patients contacting primary care services after its introduction. Following the introduction of the PCECs there was a trend towards more patients attending A&E following telephone advice although amongst self-referred A&E patients there remained a large proportion who claimed to be unaware of the new service 12 weeks after, and one year after, the introduction of PCECs. Continued evaluation of the effect on A&E of the new centres will be required to plan future resources for the provision of emergency care.