Consultant triage of minor cases in an accident and emergency department.

There is no doubt that many patients who attend accident and emergency (A&E) departments have minor conditions which do not always merit immediate hospital treatment and could be treated by a general practitioner (GP) (Davison et al., 1983; Cliff & Wood, 1986). Such patients are termed 'inappropriate attenders', as they are not considered emergencies by the staff of the A&E department and may not have had an accident. The time and resources required to deal with these conditions may be taken from that allocated to more serious or 'appropriate' cases. Attempts to re-educate those who have waited several hours are unlikely to be successful. Most attempts at dealing with the problem are based on nurse triage (Parmar & Hewitt, 1985; Bailey et al., 1987). On arrival in the department, patients