1. Trends in the use of accident and emergency services by the homeless on the Wirral.
- Author
-
Earnshaw SM, Barnes RC, and Brown R
- Subjects
- Adult, Catchment Area, Health, Child, Emergency Service, Hospital trends, Emergency Services, Psychiatric statistics & numerical data, England, Female, Health Services Research, Hospitals, District, Hospitals, General, Humans, Male, Retrospective Studies, Emergency Service, Hospital statistics & numerical data, Ill-Housed Persons statistics & numerical data
- Abstract
Objective: To examine the use of accident and emergency (A&E) services by the homeless, with particular reference to the use of psychiatric services generated by this attendance., Methods: A retrospective study of attendance registers at a large A&E department over an eight year period, during which there were 566 separate attendances by homeless patients out of a total of 421 237 adult attendances (1.3 per 1000)., Results: There was no significant change in rates of attendances over the eight year period (P = 0.41), in the broad demographic details of the groups, or in the use of psychiatric services., Conclusions: There has been no significant increase in the use of A&E services by homeless people in the population studied over the eight year period. Several possible explanations for this are given.
- Published
- 1996
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