[A closed emergency unit. Consequences for referral patterns and economics].

During the mid 1980's the emergency-room at Faaborg Hospital changed status from being open to semi-closed. From then on the patients had to contact a general practitioner before going to the emergency-room. The general practices in the area were then supposed to have a referring function. We decided to evaluate the consequences of this decision in 1991. From 25 August to 1 December 1991 we registered all patients who contacted the emergency-room. The conclusions were that no changes in the types of patients had occurred, and that it was at a greater cost to the National Health Service.