Background: We describe changes in the distance travelled, the utilization of emergency services, and the in-hospital mortality before and after the centralization of hospital emergency services in Denmark.
Methods: All unplanned non-psychiatric hospital contacts from adults (aged ≥18 years) in 2008 and 2016 are included. Analyses are age-standardized and conducted at a municipality level. The municipalities are divided into groups according to the presence of emergency hospital services.
Results: Municipalities where hospitals with emergency services have been closed differed by having the most significant increase in distance travelled from 2008 to 2016. All groups experienced a reduction in overall in-hospital mortality. The reduction in mortality was not present for acute myocardial infarct contacts from municipalities where hospitals with emergency services have been closed.
Conclusion: Our data do not suggest that hospital closures, and thereby increased travel distance, have contributed significantly as a barrier to emergency-care access and changes to in-hospital mortality.
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