Referral rates for children with acute gastroenteritis: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Hospital admission rates are increasing for children with acute gastroenteritis. However, it is unknown whether this increase is accompanied by an increase in referral rates from GPs due to increased workloads in primary care out-of-hours (OOH) services.

Aim: To assess trends in referral rates from primary care OOH services to specialist emergency care for children presenting with acute gastroenteritis.