Out-Of-Hours Care Review Announced

A review of access to day-to-day medical care outside of normal GP hours has been announced by the Health Secretary.

Shona Robison said the review will look at the requirements for services at night and the weekends when GP surgeries are closed.

It will also address issues such as the recruitment and retention of GPs, staff availability, especially during peak holiday times, consistency of service and the public's expectations of the service.

It comes more than a decade after the 2004 UK GP contract, which passed responsibility for organising out-of-hours primary care from individual doctors to health boards.

The review will be led by Sir Lewis Ritchie, director of public health at NHS Grampian, and is expected to provide recommendations by late summer this year.

Ms Robison said: Primary care is the cornerstone of the NHS with more than 90% of patient visits starting and finishing in primary care.

Out-of-hours services are a crucial component of this and it is now more than 10 years since the current system was created.

Our NHS is facing different challenges from a decade ago and we need to ensure all parts of the system work as effectively as possible to support an ageing population and more people with more complex, multiple conditions.

That is why the time is right to review these services to ensure they continue to deliver sustainable, high-quality, safe and effective care.

The review will look at core requirements for services at night and the weekends as well as what roles and skills are needed, and where.''

Miles Mack, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: I welcome this out-of-hours primary care review.

This will be an important opportunity to see the work GPs do in out-of-hours recognised and allowed to develop in a sustainable way.''

Ms Robison also announced a new approach to unscheduled care, with the Academy of Royal Colleges, the Royal College of Nursing and others.

Unscheduled care can include urgent or emergency GP appointments, 999 ambulance services and A&E treatment.

She said: It aims to ensure the whole NHS system works together effectively to support people in their own home.

Where they require urgent or emergency primary or secondary care, this will be joined up from a patient's first contact with the NHS to their discharge from hospital, if they require admission.

Both the collaborative approach to A&E and the review of out-of-hours care complements the Government's overarching commitment to tackling delayed discharge and will involve a shared commitment to deliver on key issues, such as discharging patients within 72 hours of clinical readiness, and reducing the number of hospital admissions that are avoidable.''