title: Emergency surgery: atavistic refuge of the general surgeon?
abstract: A prospective audit of emergency soft-tissue surgery for an eight-week period revealed that general surgical emergency operations were more than twice as common as those undertaken in other soft-tissue specialties. The audit reveals that emergency general surgery needs an increase in resources, an increase in available staff and an increase in the role of the consultant general surgeon on call. An alternative solution would be to admit soft-tissue emergencies by specialty and develop specialist emergency services.
authors.affiliation: Royal United Hospital, Bath BA1 3NG, UK.
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Lankester
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Britton
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Holbrook
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Umpleby
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Tate
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Budd
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Maddox
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Horrocks
mesh_terms: D004630:Emergencies; D004739:England; D013502:General Surgery / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008485:Medical Audit; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D009551:Night Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013043:Specialties, Surgical / Q000458:organization & administration; D013222:State Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration