What they did next: Using follow‐up phone calls to investigate health care access patterns of patients who take their own leave.

Objectives Methods Results Conclusion The purpose of the present study was to use telephone follow‐up (TFU) to investigate the actions taken by patients after they took their own leave (TOL) from an ED, with a focus on priority groups who are at risk of experiencing health inequity. These included people experiencing homelessness (EH), people with a low socioeconomic status by index of relative socioeconomic disadvantage (IRSD) and First Nations people. The primary outcome was being seen by a general practitioner (GP) within 2 days of the TOL event. The utility of the TFU was also examined.This was an observational study of data collected during a quality improvement intervention at an inner‐city, tertiary, teaching hospital in Melbourne from January to December 2022. Descriptive results were obtained from a TFU survey that was administered 24–48 h after the TOL event.During the study period, 4209 patients TOL from the ED. Eight hundred forty‐one of these were contacted and consented to the TFU survey. 97.7% of patients expressed gratitude at being followed up. Patients EH, compared to patients not EH, were less likely to have seen their GP within 2 days of TOL event (0.295 [0.132–0.661], P < 0.001). Both First Nations patients and those from low IRSD areas were as likely to have seen their GP within 2 days as other groups.Patients EH were less likely to receive GP care within 2 days of TOL. Improving the access and acceptability of health care in these priority groups is important for achieving health equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]