Staff perceptions on patient motives for attending GP-led urgent care centres in London: a qualitative study.

Objectives: General practitioner (GP)-led urgent care centres were established to meet the growing demand for urgent care. Staff members working in such centres are central in influencing patients' choices about which services they use, but little is known about staff perceptions of patients' motives for attending urgent care. We hence aimed to explore their perceptions of patients' motives for attending such centres.

Referral outcomes of attendances at general practitioner led urgent care centres in London, England: retrospective analysis of hospital administrative data.

Objective: To identify patient and attendance characteristics that are associated with onwards referral to co-located emergency departments (EDs) or other hospital specialty departments from general practitioner (GP) led urgent care centres (UCCs) in northwest London, England.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of administrative data recorded in the UCCs at Charing Cross and Hammersmith Hospitals, in northwest London, from October 2009 to December 2012. Attendances made by adults resident in England were included.

Clinical characteristics and outcomes for patients with an initial emergency presentation of malignancy: a 15 month audit of patient level data.

Aim: To investigate the demographics, diagnoses and outcomes for new adult cancer patients with an initial presentation via the A&E or acute oncology teams.

Background: Patients with initial emergency presentation of malignancy have been documented to have poorer treatment outcomes and shorter survival. Patient level data on this subject is relatively limited with regard to the demographics, diagnoses and the clinical factors that may underlie late presentations.

Evaluation of a general practitioner-led urgent care centre in an urban setting: description of service model and plan of analysis.

Estimates of patients attending with conditions deemed non-urgent or inappropriate for accident and emergency services vary widely, from 6 to 80%. Previous research suggests that general practitioners (GPs) working in emergency departments can reduce referral rates, diagnostic testing, the proportion of patients who become emergency hospital admissions, and inappropriate attendances. However, little of this previous research is recent and new models of care for GPs working in emergency departments have now been developed, which remain to be evaluated.

Impact on and use of health services by international migrants: questionnaire survey of inner city London A&E attenders.

Background: Changing immigration trends pose new challenges for the UK's open access health service and there is considerable speculation that migrants from resource-poor countries place a disproportionate burden on services. Data are needed to inform provision of services to migrant groups and to ensure their access to appropriate health care. We compared sociodemographic characteristics and impact of migrant groups and UK-born patients presenting to a hospital A&E/Walk-In Centre and prior use of community-based General Practitioner (GP) services.