SUMMARY.— The records of 554 consecutive patients attending hospitals in the Cambridge region with urticaria have been analysed with the aid of a computer. These patients represent only a small minority of all patients with urticaria in the region. In 79%, the aetiology was unknown although in many cases aggravating factors, for example, psychological stress, aspirin, or infection, were detected. A past or family history of atopic disorders was not found more frequently in patients with urticaria than in controls and the course of the disease in patients with a background of atopy did not differ from the remainder, suggesting that an undetected allergy is not responsible for many of these undiagnosed cases. Allergy is relatively more important in acute urticaria and in patients who do not attend hospital. The frequency of attacks and total duration of the disease are different in patients with urticaria alone, angio‐oedema alone and both together but there was little difference in the aetiological factors, supporting the concept that urticaria and angio‐oedema are fundamentally similar. The prognosis is expressed in the form of life tables.

Objective: To forecast the number of patients who will present each month at the emergency department of a hospital in regional Victoria. Methods:The data on which the forecasts are based are the number of presentations in the emergency department for each month from 2000 to 2005. The statistical forecasting methods used are exponential smoothing and Box-Jenkins methods as implemented in the software package SPSS version 14.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, Ill, USA). Results:For the particular time series, of the available models, a simple seasonal exponential smoothing model provides optimal forecasting performance. Forecasts for the first five months in 2006 compare well with the observed attendance data. Conclusions:Time series analysis is shown to provide a useful, readily available tool for predicting emergency department demand. The approach and lessons from this experience may assist other hospitals and emergency departments to conduct THE ABILITY TO PREDICT the demand for attendance at the emergency department (ED) of a hospital is valuable -at a micro level for planning rosters for staff in ED, and at a macro level for financial and strategic planning for the hospital. Also, ED attendances are indicators for many aspects of health care in the community, and hence, such predictions may be useful for regional health care planning.There are many factors that will influence the attendance rate at an ED. Indeed, in England, Milner et al found "startling" variation in ED presentation patterns in 190 health districts. 1 Farmer and Emami 2 also noted regional variation in demand for health services in England and the What does this study add?This study develops a model for forecasting the number of presentations each month at the emergency department of a hospital in regional Victoria. The forecasts provided by the model are shown to compare very well with the actual outcomes. The study demonstrates how time series analysis can be used for forecasting, at least in the short term, the demand for emergency services in a hospital. What are the implications for practice?Every hospital is unique. However, the forecasting methods and approach in this paper could be applied in other hospitals to improve resource allocation and strategic planning.

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SUMMARY.— A syndrome which he named acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis was described by Sweet in 1964. Two cases are reported which seem to fall into the same category, but showed recurrent involvement of the face only. One of these patients and another similar case in the literature are the only males so far recorded.

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The implementation of the streaming model had an impact on the two performance indicators associated with length of stay in this regional ED, but did not have a significant impact (positive or negative) on the percentage of patients who did not wait to be seen. These results might interest other EDs in regional hospitals.

FIRST(2) ACT was associated with measurable improvements in nursing practice.

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