Trial reportBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2004
NHS Direct versus general practice based triage for same day appointments in primary care: cluster randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2004. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of Acute Care Remote Triage Systems: a Systematic Review.Journal of general internal medicine · 2020Pooled it
- The effect of nurses' preparedness and nurse practitioner status on triage call management in primary care: A secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from the ESTEEM trial.International journal of nursing studies · 2016Trial
- Trial
- The Use of Triage in Primary Care in the UK: An Integrative Review and Narrative Synthesis.Journal of advanced nursing · 2026Review
- Nurse triage in primary care: concept analysis.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- Scoping review of nurse triage in primary care.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- [Telehealth: a digital strategy for demand management in primary health care facilities in ChileTelessaúde: uma estratégia digital para a gestão da demanda na atenção primária à saúde no Chile].Revista panamericana de salud publica = Pan American journal of public health · 2025Article
- Access systems in general practice: a systematic scoping review.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2024Article
- A cost-minimisation study of 1,001 NHS Direct users.BMC health services research · 2013Article
- Utilization of the out of hours service in Poland: an observational study from Krakow.BMC health services research · 2008Article
- Impact of standalone and embedded telephone triage systems on after hours primary medical care service utilisation and mix in Australia.Australia and New Zealand health policy · 2005Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo assess the relative effects on consultation workload and costs of off-site triage by NHS Direct for patients requesting same day appointments compared with usual on-site nurse telephone triage in general practice.
designCluster randomised controlled trial.
settingThree primary care sites in York, England.
participants4703 patients: 2452 with practice based triage, 2251 with NHS Direct triage. All consecutive patients making requests for same day appointments during study weeks were eligible for the trial.
main outcome measuresType of consultation after request for same day appointment (telephone, appointment, or visit); time taken for consultation; service use during the month after same day contact; costs of same day, follow up, and emergency care.
resultsPatients in the NHS Direct group were less likely to have their call resolved by a nurse and were more likely to have an appointment with a general practitioner. Mean total time per patient in the NHS Direct group was 7.62 minutes longer than in the practice based group. Costs were greater in the NHS Direct group--2.88 pounds sterling (0.88 pounds sterling to 4.87 pounds sterling) per patient triaged--as a result of the difference between the groups in proportions of patients at each final point contact after triage.
conclusionsExternal management of requests for same day appointments by nurse telephone triage through NHS Direct is possible but comes at a higher cost than practice nurse delivered triage in primary care. If NHS Direct could achieve the same proportions of consultation types as practice based triage, costs would be comparable.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.