Why do people attend A&E?

Healthwatch Wakefield collected data on why patients access urgent and emergency care services, such as A&E. This included going into A&E departments to talk to patients and also promoting the survey through social media.   They spoke to 218 people.

Key findings

• 42% of people attending said it was due to a medical emergency 
• 20% said it was to get tests or other treatment that wasn’t available elsewhere 
• 10% because they couldn’t get a GP appointment. 
• 51% of people surveyed had been advised to come to A&E by someone. 
• Of these people 69% were advised to attend A&E by a health professional in some capacity including 47% by their GP/nurse.
• 20% of those people were either not sure or did not think A&E was the right place for them to be.