Death from cancer: frequent unscheduled care

To examine the demographic, clinical, and temporal factors associated with cancer decedents being a frequent or very frequent unscheduled care (GP-general practice Out-Of-Hours (GPOOH) and Accident & Emergency (A&E)) attender, in their last year of life.

Retrospective cohort study, of all 2443 cancer decedents in Tayside, Scotland, over 30- months period up to 06/2015, comparing frequent attenders (5-9 attendances/year) and very frequent attenders (≥10 attendances/year) to infrequent attenders (1-4 attendances/year) and non-attenders. Clinical and demographic datasets were linked to routinely-collected clinical data using the Community Health Index number. Anonymised linked data were analysed in SafeHaven, using binary/multinomial logistic regression, and Generalised Estimating Equations analysis.

Frequent attenders were more likely to be older, and have upper gastrointestinal (GI), haematological, breast and ovarian malignancies, and less likely to live in accessible areas or have a late cancer diagnosis. They were more likely to use GPOOH than A&E, less likely to have face-to-face unscheduled care attendances, and less likely to be admitted to hospital following unscheduled care attendance.

Age, cancer type, accessibility and timing of diagnosis relative to death were associated with increased likelihood of being a frequent or very frequent attender at unscheduled care.