Skip to main content
PMC home page
The British Journal of General Practice logoLink to The British Journal of General Practice
. 1994 Jun;44(383):251–254.

Arranging hospital admission for acutely ill patients: problems encountered by general practitioners.

C Jenkins 1, J Bartholomew 1, F Gelder 1, D Morrell 1
PMCID: PMC1238895  PMID: 8037978

Abstract

BACKGROUND. Reports in the national press suggest that general practitioners in London are experiencing difficulties in securing hospital admission for their acutely ill patients. AIM. A study was undertaken to investigate the problems encountered by general practitioners in one family health services authority in south east London in arranging acute admissions to hospital. METHOD. A self-report questionnaire was completed by a sample of general practitioners every time an acute hospital admission was attempted. RESULTS. A total of 493 questionnaires were completed by 111 general practitioners over the 47-day study period. Problems during the hospital admission procedure were experienced in 171 (35%) of the cases reported, with 115 of the 537 telephone calls to a hospital (21%) resulting in a refusal to admit the patient to that particular hospital. The main problem reported was that of 'no beds available', an obstacle to admission that was more likely to be encountered if the patient was aged 75 years or over than if the patient was younger. CONCLUSION. In the light of the problems reported, possible changes to the current method of arranging acute admissions to hospital in London are discussed.

Full text

PDF
251

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Anderson P., Meara J., Brodhurst S., Attwood S., Timbrell M., Gatherer A. Use of hospital beds: a cohort study of admissions to a provincial teaching hospital. BMJ. 1988 Oct 8;297(6653):910–912. doi: 10.1136/bmj.297.6653.910. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cooper C. L., Rout U., Faragher B. Mental health, job satisfaction, and job stress among general practitioners. BMJ. 1989 Feb 11;298(6670):366–370. doi: 10.1136/bmj.298.6670.366. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Evans B. G. The emergency bed service in London--who uses it? J R Coll Gen Pract. 1986 Feb;36(283):54–56. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Evans B. G. The emergency bed service--a barometer of London's hospital service. J R Coll Gen Pract. 1987 Nov;37(304):491–493. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Jarman B. Is London overbedded? BMJ. 1993 Apr 10;306(6883):979–982. doi: 10.1136/bmj.306.6883.979. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Maimaris C., Kirby N. The impact of the observation ward on acute admissions at Guy's Hospital. Health Trends. 1991;23(1):33–35. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Morrell D. C., Gage H. G., Robinson N. A. Referral to hospital by general practitioners. J R Coll Gen Pract. 1971 Feb;21(103):77–85. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Patrick M., Higgit A., Holloway F., Silverman M. Changes in an inner city psychiatric inpatient service following bed losses: a follow-up of the East Lambeth 1986 survey. Health Trends. 1989 Dec;21(4):121–123. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Petty R., Gumpel M. Acute medical admissions: changes following a sudden reduction in bed numbers at Northwick Park Hospital. J R Coll Physicians Lond. 1990 Jan;24(1):32–35. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. St George D. How many beds? Helping consultants to estimate their requirements. BMJ. 1988 Sep 17;297(6650):729–731. doi: 10.1136/bmj.297.6650.729. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The British Journal of General Practice are provided here courtesy of Royal College of General Practitioners

RESOURCES