Use of emergency departments

The use of emergency departments is a prominent policy issue in both England and the USA. In a letter published in JAMA, Thomas Cowling and I compare the use of emergency departments in the two countries. The annual number of hospital ED visits in England increased from 15.4 million in 2007-2008 to 18.4 million in 2011-2012.1 The patient was given advice only or did not receive treatment in approximately 48% of these ED visits, and no investigations were performed in approximately 40% of ED visits.