New out of hours care ‘shambolic’

Summary

Approximately nine million patients receive urgent primary out-of-hours care in England.

In April 2004, the Department of Health gave GPs the chance to opt out of providing this service and transfer responsibility to the Primary Care Trust.

This Report from the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts 'The Provision of Out-of-Hours Care in England' (HC 360 2006-07) looks at three main issues related to the change:

How well the Department of Health prepared
How the new service performed
What it cost.

Findings include the fact that the cost of the new out-of-hours service has been £70 million higher than was foreseen.

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Law-Making Explained

This is a House of Commons Paper (HC 360 2006-07): it is a report from the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts.

Find out more about Select Committees.

How does it affect me?

If you work in the health service or require out-of-hours care, this affects you.

The Committee concludes that the preparation was shambolic both at local and national level and although the new service is starting to improve performance against key access targets, it is still not good enough.

Find out more about the work of the Committee of Public Accounts.

Information on forthcoming meetings of the Committee of Public Accounts and how to attend.

Read more about out-of-hours care on NHS Direct.