Use of urgent care has been conceptualised as either being due to chance events or non-random events. This programme concerns the latter, which are associated with frequent attendance, and it is these events which are potentially amenable to change.

Psychological morbidity is a predictor of urgent/unscheduled care.

Depression, anxiety and somatisation are predictors of the use of unscheduled care in long term conditions, but the evidence suggests that these, although important, are rarely addressed in treatment interventions.

At present, we have limited information about which patients with long term conditions access unscheduled care and the reasons why they do this. We also lack detailed feedback about patients’ experience of the urgent care system. We know that the mental health needs of frequent users of medical services are rarely addressed appropriately and in a timely way.