Local NHS meets challenge of busy 'Out of Hours' weekend

19/10/2004

Local NHS staff had a busy weekend responding to calls from the public to the new 'out of hours' service, but say they are encouraged with awareness of how to access the new service.

Last week Gloucester city practices joined the new 'out of hours' service adding a large section of the county's population to the potential number of callers to the new service.

412 people accessed the 'out of hours' service last Saturday (16 October 2004). Most people's questions were dealt with, either by talking to a GP over the telephone or by coming into one of the Primary Care Centres located across the county, 57 people received a home visit from a GP via the mobile car service and 6 ambulances were sent out.

Calls received ranged from urgent medical calls requiring a home visit to questions about obtaining prescriptions. NHS managers and GPs stressed that the service is for urgent medical calls only.

Dr Ossie Rawstorne, GP and Medical Director, Gloucestershire Ambulance NHS Trust, said:

"We need to ensure that every member of the team working in the new 'out of hours' service is making the best use of their time by responding to urgent medical inquiries only. Quite a large number of calls received last weekend were for routine enquiries, such as requests for repeat prescriptions. We appreciate that it will take time for people to become familiar with the new arrangements and we would urge members of the public to plan ahead if they know they are running out of repeat prescription medicines and encourage them to contact their practices and community pharmacies during normal working hours*"

The service is being phased in over a 6-week period this autumn in order to give NHS staff the opportunity to test the system and smooth out operational issues ahead of the countywide 'go live' date on 1 December 2004.

Paul Edwards, Director of Clinical Provision at Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Primary Care Trust, said:

"We planned a phased implementation of the new service to enable us to test the system in stages. We had predicted that Saturday morning would be the busiest period for the 'out of hours' service, and last weekend's activity confirmed this. We did experience some teething problems with call-handling and as a result we took action to double the number of staff answering calls from the public at the Ambulance Trust Headquarters on Saturday morning.

"The new service is for urgent medical enquiries only. Experience has shown us in the first few weeks that many people are calling 'out of hours' with routine queries such as requests for repeat prescriptions.

"We have used a variety of ways to let people know about the new 'out of hours' service, through leaflets drops, posters in practices and articles in the local media, but we know that it will take more time and further efforts to increase awareness of the fact that practices will no longer routinely be open on Saturday mornings as the new 'out of hours' service is phased in."

Over the next two weeks The Forest of Dean, Tewkesbury and Cheltenham practices will move over to the new system.

• Changes to the Repeat Prescription Service
  Download a flyer providing information about changes to the repeat prescription services

• The New Saturday Morning Service
  Download a flyer providing information about what you now need to do if you require urgent medical care or treatment on a Saturday morning.