The effect of opening an ice-rink on the accident and emergency department of a district general hospital.

In October 1984, an ice-rink was opened in Telford. There had not been such a facility in the County before. The opening of this leisure facility has created an additional demand on the emergency services of the serving District General Hospital at a time of extreme financial hardship. This is a survey of the first 186 patients from the ice-rink who attended the Accident and Emergency (A & E) Department of the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. Injuries were in three main groups: those of instability, those resulting from a fall onto the ice and those occurring after the fall. The majority were soft-tissue damage (71%), but 27% were fractures. The cost to the Health Authority of these attendances from this new source of leisure have been calculated at £11 296 (April 1985). The department will see 550 patients from the ice-rink in a year at an estimated cost of £30 915 to the District Health Authority.