General practice

Organisation of primary care services outside normal working hours

Centre for Primary Care Research, Department of General Practice, University of Manchester, Rusholme Health Centre, Manchester M14 5NP, research fellow, clinical lecturer. Correspondence to: Ms Hallam.

Abstract

Objective: To determine the use and organisation of out of hours services in primary care.
Design: Telephone survey.
Setting: Family health services authorities in England and Wales.
Main outcome measures: Rate of use of out of hours care, methods of provision, and role of authorities.
Results: 12-25% of authorities were unable to answer one or more key questions in the survey because of insufficient information. The mean number of night visits made per unrestricted principal per 1000 patients per year was 35.3. 13 of the 19 authorities with averages above 40 covered large towns or cities. 81 authorities had at least one commercial deputising service. In 46 metropolitan districts and one other district over 75% of general practitioners had consent to use a deputising service, although not all did so. Information on cooperation between practices was limited. 22 cooperatives were recognised by the authorities, nine were not officially recognised, and a further 13 were nearing institution. Only two cooperatives were in areas with extensive use of deputising services.
Conclusion: Methods of providing out of hours care are changing, and without good information systems family health services authorities will not be able to monitor the effect on quality and cost effectiveness of care.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Paramedic practitioners and emergency admissions

Malcolm Woollard
BMJ 2007 335: 893-894. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Woollard, M. (2007). Paramedic practitioners and emergency admissions. BMJ 335: 893-894 [Full text]  
• Moll van Charante, E., Giesen, P., Mokkink, H., Oort, F., Grol, R., Klazinga, N., Bindels, P. (2006). Patient satisfaction with large-scale out-of-hours primary health care in The Netherlands: development of a postal questionnaire. Fam Pract 23: 437-443 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Glynn, L., Byrne, M, Newell, J, Murphy, A. (2004). The effect of health status on patients' satisfaction with out-of-hours care provided by a family doctor co-operative. Fam Pract 21: 677-683 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• van Uden, C J T, Crebolder, H F J M (2004). Does setting up out of hours primary care cooperatives outside a hospital reduce demand for emergency care?. Emerg. Med. J. 21: 722-723 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• van Uden, C J T, Winkens, R A G, Wesseling, G J, Crebolder, H F J M, van Schayck, C P (2003). Use of out of hours services: a comparison between two organisations. Emerg. Med. J. 20: 184-187 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Kersnik, J. (2000). Observational study of home visits in Slovene general practice: patient characteristics, practice characteristics and health care utilization. Fam Pract 17: 389-393 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Salisbury, C. (2000). The demand for out-of-hours care from GPs: a review. Fam Pract 17: 340-347 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Morgan, M., McKevitt, C., Hudson, M. (2000). GPs' employment of locum doctors and satisfaction with their service. Fam Pract 17: 53-55 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Brogan, C., Pickard, D., Gray, A., Fairman, S., Hill, A. (1998). The use of out of hours health services: a cross sectional survey. BMJ 316: 524-527 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Hopton, J., Hogg, R., McKee, I. (1996). Patients' accounts of calling the doctor out of hours: qualitative study in one general practice. BMJ 313: 991-994 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Aylin, P., Majeed, F A., Cook, D. G (1996). Home visiting by general practitioners in England and Wales. BMJ 313: 207-210 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Heaney, D., Gorman, D. (1996). Primary care out of hours. BMJ 312: 1303b-1304 [Full text]  
• Lattimer, V., Smith, H., Hungin, P., Glasper, A., George, S. (1996). Future provision of out of hours primary medical care: a survey with two general practitioner research networks. BMJ 312: 352-356 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Stevenson, M D (1995). Results of survey of general practitioners' opinion. BMJ 310: 263d-263 [Full text]  
• Hurwitz, B. (1994). Out of hours. BMJ 309: 1593-1594 [Full text]  
• Cragg, D., Hallam, L. (1994). Quality standards for deputising services. BMJ 309: 1630-1630 [Full text]