Table 5 Patients admitted to hospital according to the advice given by NHS Direct.

Advice	Number of patients admitted
	Medical	Surgical	Other	Total
999, ambulance as soon as possible	12			12
A&E, as soon as possible	18	2	2	22
A&E, within 4 h	1	1	1	3
All advised A&E				37
Contact GP practice within 4 h (as soon as possible)	22	4		22
Contact GP practice within 12 h (same day)	2			2
Speak to doctor within 12 h (same day)	1			1
Contact GP practice within 36 h (next day)	1			1
Routine appointment with GP	1			1
Information provided	1			1
No answer/no contact	1			1
Other	1			1
Total advised no A&E				34

A&E, accident and emergency; GP, general practitioner.