Table 4 Discharge destination by source of referral.
| Discharge destination | Source of referral, n (%) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NHS‐D, n = 299 | NHS‐D‐Other , n = 163 | GP‐referred patients, n = 1452 | Self‐referral, n = 9893 | |
| Home | 220 (74)*† | 102 (63) | 810 (56)* | 6286 (64)† |
| Admitted | 37 (12)‡ | 34 (21)‡ | 388 (27) | 1013 (10) |
| Follow‐up | 22 (7) | 12 (7) | 236 (16) | 2256 (23) |
| GP | 12 (4) | 12 (7) | — | 2 (0.02) |
| Dentist | 1 (0.3) | — | — | 9 (0.1) |
| Died in department | — | — | — | 1 (0.01) |
| Left before treatment | 7 (2) | 3 (2) | 18 (1) | 326 (3) |
GP, general practitioner; NHS‐D, NHS Direct.
The patients advised by the NHS‐D accident and emergency department had significantly less admissions than NHS‐D‐Other (‡p<0.01) and there were significantly more discharges than self‐referrals and GP‐referred patients (*p<0.01, †p<0.01).