Patient and care characteristics of self-referrals treated by the general practitioner cooperative at emergency-care-access-points in the Netherlands

Abstract Background In the Netherlands, out-of-hours primary care is provided in general practitioner-cooperatives (GPCs). These are increasingly located on site and in collaboration with emergency departments of hospitals (ED). At such sites, also called emergency-care-access-points (ECAP), the GPC is generally responsible for the triage and treatment of self-referrals who used to attend the ED. To evaluate the effects and safety of this novel organisation, we studied the characteristics and the quality of care given by GPCs to self-referrals at ECAPs. Methods Retrospective analysis (August 2... Mehr ...