TY - JOUR AU - McKenna, Gemma AU - Rogers, Anne AU - Walker, Sandra AU - Pope, Catherine PY - 2020 DA - 2020/09/21 TI - The influence of personal communities in understanding avoidable emergency department attendance: qualitative study JO - BMC Health Services Research SP - 887 VL - 20 IS - 1 AB - Use of emergency department (ED) care globally seems to be increasing at a faster rate than population growth (Baker, House of Commons Library. Accident and Emergency Statistics, Demand, Performance, 2017). In the UK there has been a reported 16% rise in emergency admissions over the past 5 years. Estimates that between 11 and 40% of ED attendances are non-urgent, with 11% of patients being discharged from the ED without treatment (NHS Digital 2017), and a further 44% require no follow-up treatment (NHS Digital, Hospital Accident and Emergency Activity 2016-17, 2019) is cited as evidence that these patients did not require this level of care. The solution to not using the most appropriate point in the system has traditionally been seen as a knowledge problem, requiring, improved sign-posting and information to enable people to self-manage or use health care management for minor ailments. However research about help-seeking behaviour suggests that the problem may not be an informational one. A considerable literature points to help seeking as a social process influenced by a range of contingencies and contextual factors including the way in which lay people influence health care utilisation (Giebel et al. BMJ Open 9:1, 2019). Personal communities comprise a variety of active and significant social ties which have potential to influence individual capacity to seek help. Here we extend and unpack further influencing decisions about seeking formal health care with reference to how they are shaped and informed by and within personal social networks. SN - 1472-6963 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05705-5 DO - 10.1186/s12913-020-05705-5 ID - McKenna2020 ER -