​​​​In the last 10 years, there have been more people attending emergency departments (EDs) in NSW [1]. Health service planners work hard to connect people with appropriate, timely and accessible care so that people can avoid going to ED. This reduces the pressure and reliance on EDs. An important factor to allow accurate planning is to better understand people who frequently seek care in EDs.

This factsheet aims to better understand frequent attenders to ED to help better plan and manage health services. In this factsheet, frequent ED attenders are defined as people who attended a NSW ED five or more times in 12 months.

The analysis used patient data from the Lumos data asset, which links deidentified data from patients who attend a Lumos participating GP with data from other NSW Health services to provide a comprehensive view of patient journeys.

The analysis focuses on patients who attended a Lumos GP between April 2023 and March 2024. More information on the program and methods can be found below.

Key Findings

Common characteristics of​​​ ED frequent attenders:

Those who attended ED frequently were more likely to:

• be aged 65 years and older
  
• live regionally
  
• be more socioeconomically disadvantaged
• live with chronic conditions
  

A higher proportion of Lumos GP patients aged 65 and over were frequent attenders of ED than other age groups

​Chronic Conditions:

​Lumos data revealed insights about people with chronic conditions:

• 1 in 3 people who did not attend an ED had a chronic condition 
• 1 in 2 people who attended an ED 1 to 4 times had 1 or more chronic conditions 
• 3 in 4 frequent ED attenders had at least one chronic condition; almost 1 in 2 had 2 or more chronic conditions​

​Reasons Lumos GP patients visit ED frequently:

​Lumos data showed the top reasons for visiting ED differed between frequent ED attenders and non-frequent ED attenders. For ED frequent attenders, mental health problems, cellulitis and backache were common reasons that were unique to this cohort.​

The most common reasons for frequent ED visits for different age groups:

• 15-29 years: Anxiety and Mental health
  
• 30-64 years: Mental health and alcohol misuse
• 65 years and over: Shortness of breath and administration of medicine
  

​How frequent ED attenders use health services in NSW:

When frequent ED attenders go to ED:

• More than 1 in 3 arrive by emergency vehicle compared to around 1 in 5 of other ED attenders
• They are more likely to attend for more urgent care* (58.2% compared to 54.1% of other ED attenders)
• They are more likely to be admitted to hospital (30.5% compared to 26.7% of other ED attenders)
• They are more likely to leave without being treated (12.6% compared to 9.4% of other ED attenders)​