Impact of telephone triage on emergency after hours GP Medicare usage: a time-series analysis

Table 2 Utilisation rates of MBS services (per 10,000 population): National comparator.

TIME PERIOD (POPULATION)	IN-HOURS	AFTER HOURS	VR GPS				NON VR GPS
			Not "UNSOCIABLE" HOURS		"UNSOCIABLE" HOURS		NOT "UNSOCIABLE" HOURS		"UNSOCIABLE" HOURS
			Not CON ROOMS	CON ROOMS	NOT CON ROOMS	CON ROOMS	NOT CON ROOMS	CON ROOMS	Not CON ROOMS	CON ROOMS
			1	2	601	602	97	98	697	698
Oct97/Sep98 (16,344,730)	4025.3	30.0	11.0	4.2	2.0	0.7	7.8	2.2	1.9	0.2
Oct98/Sep99 (16,517,748)	3975.5	29.2	11.4	4.1	2.4	0.9	6.4	1.5	2.3	0.4
Oct99/Sep00 (16,689,060)	3871.7	28.0	10.7	3.9	2.0	1.0	6.3	1.3	2.4	0.4

Notes: For the non-trial areas the period October 1997 to September 2000 was analysed as this represented the most common period over which the trials were conducted. Sociable hours (8–11 pm)and unsociable hours (11 pm–8 am)