Table 1.
Initial contacts by substance misuse/mental illness relatedness and by day distribution, urgency and action taken
| |
Substance misuse/mental illness |
Others |
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % | n | % | p-value | |
|
Time of day, n = 28527 |
|
|
|
|
<0.001 |
| 08.00-15.29 |
162 |
22.7 |
10381 |
37.3 |
|
| 15.30-22.59 |
313 |
43.8 |
14121 |
50.8 |
|
| 23.00-07.59 |
240 |
33.6 |
3310 |
11.9 |
|
|
Priority grade, n = 28387 |
|
|
|
|
<0.001 |
| Acute |
31 |
4.6 |
802 |
2.9 |
|
| Urgent |
249 |
36.7 |
8523 |
30.8 |
|
| Not urgent |
398 |
58.7 |
18384 |
66.3 |
|
|
Action taken, n = 28417 |
|
|
|
|
<0.001 |
| Contact with nurse |
|
|
|
|
|
| Telephone advice |
209 |
30.8 |
4949 |
17.8 |
|
| Consultation |
13 |
1.9 |
473 |
1.7 |
|
| Contact with GP |
|
|
|
|
|
| Telephone advice |
78 |
11.5 |
2514 |
9.1 |
|
| Consultation |
314 |
46.2 |
17481 |
63.0 |
|
| Home visit |
9 |
1.3 |
235 |
0.8 |
|
| Emergency call-out |
19 |
2.8 |
499 |
1.8 |
|
| Other | 37 | 5.4 | 1587 | 5.7 | |
Initial patient contacts to triaging nurses in the four casualty clinics (n = 28527) by judged relation to substance misuse or mental illness, and by period of day, assessed priority grade, and type of primary action taken. Group differences were tested with Pearson’s chi-squared test.