The setting up and running of a cross-county out-of-hours gastrointestinal bleed service: a possible blueprint for the future.

Objective: Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding (AUGIB) results in 25 000 hospital admissions annually. Patients admitted at weekends with AUGIB have increased mortality, and guidelines advise out-of-hours endoscopy. We present retrospective data from our service involving the interhospital transfer of patients.