At the roadside: assessment of activities of a general practitioner accident service

Members of the Mid-Anglia General Practitioner Accident Service (MAGPAS) have completed an accident report form after attending each incident since the service was formed in 1972. In 1982 a new form was introduced, and this paper analyses the first 1000 forms that have been returned where a patient was examined at the roadside. During 1982, 1515 calls were received by MAGPAS, and in 97% of these a doctor was sent immediately: 55% of the calls were passed to the doctor within one minute of the receipt of the call in the MAGPAS control room and 81% within two minutes. The doctor arrived ahead of the ambulance in 40% of the callouts and 63 patients had an obstructed airway which was cleared by the doctor before the ambulance arrived. Of the 1816 patients seen, 142 required intravenous fluid replacement. This report suggests that in a rural area a well organised general practitioner accident service can play a vital part in the early management of seriously injured victims of road accidents.