Private funding of elective hospital treatment in England and Wales, 1997-8: national survey.

Johnson. Contributors: AWM had the original idea for the study, participated in interpreting data and writing the article, and is the guarantor for the study. PKP discussed core ideas, organised data analysis, and participated in interpreting data and writing the article. GB discussed core ideas and participated in interpreting data and writing the article. CL, FL, and ZJ participated in data retrieval and analysis. JW participated in interpreting data and writing the article. Funding: None. Competing interests: AWM, PKP, GB, and ZJ were authors of the previous article that suggested the present study hypothesis. 1 Dale J, Green J, Reid F, Glucksman E, Higgs R. Primary care in the accident and emergency department. II: Comparison of general practitioners and hospital doctors. BMJ 1995;311:427-30. 2 Murphy AW, Bury G, Plunkett PK, Gibney D, Smith M, Mullan E, et al. A comparison of general practitioner and usual medical care in an urban accident and emergency department in terms of process, health status, and comparative costs. BMJ 1996;312:1135-42. 3 Murphy AW. Inappropriate attenders at accident and emergency departments. I: Definition, incidence and reasons for attendance. Fam Pract 1998;15:23-32. 4 Murphy AW. Inappropriate attenders at accident and emergency departments. II: Health service responses. Fam Pract 1998;15:33-7. 5 Raw M, McNeill A, West R. Smoking cessation: evidence based recommendations for the healthcare system. BMJ 1999;318:182-5.