Use of home visiting GP services by paediatric patients presenting at emergency departments

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Children in Australia are infrequent recipients of general practitioner (GP) home visits. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this article is to examine whether parents who brought their child to an emergency department (ED) for a lower urgency condition had contacted a home-visiting GP prior to arriving at the ED. METHODS: Electronic surveys were completed by 1150 parents of children aged ≤9 years presenting with lower urgency conditions (triage category 4 or 5) to the EDs of four hospitals in metropolitan Melbourne. RESULTS: Only 83 (7%) parents had attempted to contact a home-visiting GP service and only 26 received a visit. Half of those who did receive a visit, and more than half who did not, reported being told to attend the ED by the service. DISCUSSION: There is infrequent use of home-visiting GP services by children who present to EDs with lower urgency conditions. These services refer some children with low-urgency conditions to the ED.