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Use of home visiting GP services by paediatric patients presenting at emergency departments.

BACKGROUND
Children in Australia are infrequent recipients of general practitioner (GP) home visits.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this article is to examine whether parents who brought their child to an emergency department (ED) for a lower urgency condition had contacted a home-visiting GP prior to arriving at the ED.


METHODS
Electronic surveys were completed by 1150 parents of children aged ≤9 years presenting with lower urgency conditions (triage category 4 or 5) to the EDs of four hospitals in metropolitan Melbourne.


RESULTS
Only 83 (7%) parents had attempted to contact a home-visiting GP service and only 26 received a visit. Half of those who did receive a visit, and more than half who did not, reported being told to attend the ED by the service.


DISCUSSION
There is infrequent use of home-visiting GP services by children who present to EDs with lower urgency conditions. These services refer some children with low-urgency conditions to the ED.