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David Oliver: Will the public use alternatives to emergency departments?

I’ve argued before that we shouldn’t blame the public for using emergency departments,1 as has a joint observational study from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine and the Patients Association.2 The position was that urgent need is defined by service users in real time. The public are intelligent consumers who go where the lights are on, and many are in any case directed to acute hospitals by NHS emergency numbers.

But I’m always prepared to reflect and reconsider. A study in January of emergency department attenders at North Middlesex University Hospital has made me wonder.3 Researchers examined 37 000 pieces of data and interviewed 630 patients, seeking to determine what brings patients to emergency departments even for conditions …