OBJECTIVES To quantify the extent of the variation in hospital admission rates between general practices, and to investigate whether this variation can be explained by factors relating to the patient, the hospital, and the general practice. DESIGN Cross sectional analysis of routine data. SETTING Merton, Sutton, and Wandsworth Health Authority, which includes areas of inner and outer London...

OBJECTIVES Describe the epidemiology of pediatric psychiatric-related visits to emergency departments participating in the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network. METHODS Retrospective analysis of emergency department presentations for psychiatric-related visits (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, codes 290.0-314.90) for years 2003 to 2005 at 24 participating...

Croup affects about 2% of preschool-aged children every year. Most children have mild croup and are managed at home, often after review by a general practitioner, who may decide that a single dose of oral corticosteroid is indicated (eg, if a risk factor for hospital admission exists). A minority of children develop moderate or severe croup. They should be reviewed in an emergency department an...

OBJECTIVES To identify characteristics of general practices associated with emergency hospital admission rates, and determine whether levels of performance and patient reports of access are associated with admission rates. DESIGN A cross-sectional study. SETTING Two primary care trusts (Leicester City and Leicestershire County and Rutland) in the East Midlands of England. PARTICIPANTS 145...

Objective Patients admitted as emergencies to hospitals at the weekend have higher death rates than patients admitted on weekdays. This may be because the restricted service availability at weekends leads to selection of patients with greater average severity of illness. We examined volumes and rates of hospital admissions and deaths across the week for patients presenting to emergency services...

OBJECTIVES To calculate socioeconomic and health status measures for the primary care groups in London and to examine the association between these measures and hospital admission rates. DESIGN Cross sectional study. SETTING 66 primary care groups in London, total list size 8.0 million people. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Elective and emergency standardised hospital admission ratios; standardise...

BACKGROUND Weekend hospital admission is associated with increased mortality, but the contributions of varying illness severity and admission time to this weekend effect remain unexplored. METHODS We analysed unselected emergency admissions to four Oxford University National Health Service hospitals in the UK from Jan 1, 2006, to Dec 31, 2014. The primary outcome was death within 30 days of a...