The association between deprivation levels, attendance rate and triage category of children attending a children's accident and emergency department.

OBJECTIVE To determine the relation between deprivation category, triage score and accident and emergency (A&E) attendance for children under the age of 13. DESIGN Retrospective study of all children attending an A&E department over one year. SETTING A paediatric teaching hospital in Edinburgh. SUBJECTS All children attending the A&E department who had a postcode and a triage score documented on attendance. The postcode was used to determine the deprivation category and the triage scored the severity of illness or injury. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE The relation between deprivation category, triage score and frequency of attendance. RESULTS There is a trend towards increased attendance in all triage categories for deprivation categories 6 and 7. CONCLUSIONS Attendance at A&E is not only related to severity of injury but also to deprivation category. The reason why people from disadvantaged areas attend more frequently needs further evaluation.