Overcrowding in emergency departments is not due to low-urgency patients using resources, as previously thought.
Instead, hospitals have been relying on flawed data.
Emergency specialists from the University of Western Australia found that after-hours GP clinics, super clinics and polyclinics have minimal effects on emergency department attendances.
The study looked at tertiary hospital visits in Western Australia between 2009 and 2011 and found that the complexity of cases was often not taken into consideration.
Read more at The University of Western Australia