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Article History

Received: 31 July 2017

Accepted: 23 July 2018

First Online: 7 September 2018

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: This study used anonymised routine data. The primary care out-of-hours data was handled under a data-sharing agreement between the University of Aberdeen and NHS Grampian. As no patient-identifiable data was involved, additional research ethical permission was not required. Likewise, the ED data contained no identifying patient information; thus, research ethical permission was not required under New Zealand’s Standard Operating Procedures for Health and Disability Ethics Committees.

: Not applicable.

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