ArticleJournal of epidemiology and community health2017
Advice given by NHS Direct in Wales: do deprived patients get more urgent decisions? Study of routine data.
Article in Journal of epidemiology and community health, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Ambulance service recognition of health inequalities and activities for reduction: An evidence and gap map of the published literature.British paramedic journal · 2024Article
- Exploring variation in ambulance calls and conveyance rates for adults with diabetes mellitus who contact the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service: a retrospective database analysis.British paramedic journal · 2021Article
- Does deprivation affect the demand for NHS Direct? Observational study of routine data from Wales.BMJ open · 2019Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn the UK, National Health Service Direct Wales (NHSDW) uses computerised decision support software to advise patients on appropriate care. However, the effect of deprivation on the advice given is not known. We aimed to estimate the effect of deprivation on advice given by nurses in NHSDW adjusting for confounding variables.
methodsWe included 400 000 calls to NHSDW between January 2002 and June 2004. We used logistic regression to model the effect of deprivation on advice given by nurses in response to calls seeking advice or information. We analysed two outcomes: receiving advice to phone 999 emergency care rather than to seek other care and receiving advice to seek care face to face rather than self-care.
resultsAfter adjustment for covariates, an increase in deprivation from one-fifth of the distribution to the next fifth increased by 13% the probability that those calling for advice rather than information received advice to phone 999 (OR 1.127; 95% CI from 1.113 to 1.143). Deprivation increased the corresponding probability of being advised to seek care face to face rather than self-care by 5% (OR 1.049; 95% CI from 1.041 to 1.058) within advice calls and by 3% (OR 1.034; 95% CI from 1.022 to 1.047) within information calls.
conclusionsDeprivation increased the chance of receiving more urgent advice, particularly advice to call 999. While our dataset may underestimate the 'need' of deprived patients, it yields no evidence of major inequity in advice given to these patients.
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