DEUCE - Version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Drivers of Demand for Emergency and Urgent CarE services (DEUCE): understanding patients’ and public perspectives
IRAS ID
217875
Contact name
Alicia O'Cathain
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 31 days
Research summary
In England, urgent care is provided by a range of services including emergency services (999 ambulance service, emergency departments and hospitals dealing with emergency admissions), urgent care services (GP out of hours, minor injury units, walk-in centres, NHS 111) and in-hours general practice (requests for same day appointments and telephone advice). Concerns have been expressed about the increase in demand for some of these services (specifically ambulance, emergency department and in-hours general practice) and their capacity to deal with this demand. A key concern is the use of a higher acuity service than is clinically necessary. For example, people attending an emergency department when their problem could be dealt with by general practice, or people using urgent appointments with GPs when scheduled appointments or self-care could be used. We need to know more about population attitudes to seeking health care, reasons for people’s decision-making, and what might help people to make choices.
We will interview people about how they make decisions to use emergency services, urgent care services, routine or self-care. We will interview the following three sub-groups of the population who have been identified as making clinically unnecessary use of services but where little qualitative research has been undertaken.
1.Adults residing in areas of socio economic deprivation
2.Young adults (aged between 18 and 25)
3.Parents/carers of children (aged 0-5)18 face-to-face interviews (total n=54) will be undertaken in each sub group and will focus on why people make decisions to contact different services, trying to understand what lies at the heart of their behaviour and what might help them to use non-urgent services or self-care when it is not clinically necessary to use emergency or urgent services.
In addition, a focus group with each sub group will identify potential solutions to help people in their decision-making.REC name
London - Brent Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/1228
Date of REC Opinion
17 Jul 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion