The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7399 p524
6 May 2006

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Out-of-hours care fails on quality standards

Providers of out-of-hours GP services are not meeting quality requirements, particularly those relating to timely response, according to a National Audit Office report.

In 2004, the Department of Health gave GPs the option of handing over responsibility for out-of-hours care to primary care trusts (PJ, 31 January 2004, p122).

The NAO auditors found that, of the PCTs that arranged for out-of-hours services to be delivered by an external contractor, only 34 per cent had a signed contract in place by September 2005, making quality requirements difficult to enforce.

Chris Shapcott, director of the study, said this week that, when the transfer occurred, many PCTs lacked knowledge of out-of-hours care and issues surrounding the development of contract specifications.

The report finds that few PCTs are reaching the required targets for speed of response. However, Mr Shapcott confirmed: “There was no evidence of patient safety being compromised.”