“GPs do see this as an issue of
high public concern – and they are equally concerned for the
welfare of their patients. The Council of the Royal College
of General Practitioners (RCGP) has been addressing this issue and
earlier this week launched an independent 10 point plan to reduce
confusion for patients seeking out of hours care and to improve
services.
“As our document shows, clearly it
is Primary Care Trusts (PCTs)who are responsible and must be held
to account. The important thing now is to move forward and focus on
improving standards for patients. We believe our 10 point plan will
go a long way to do this.
“GPs tell me that they get angry
when they are repeatedly blamed for the problems with out of hours
care. I think the situation arises because it has become
convenient to ‘bash’ GPs with gratuitous attacks. This is
unacceptable and must stop. GPs agonised over whether to end 24
hour responsibility. We would like to emphasise that GPs still take
part in out of hours rotas.
“Before the new GP contract came
into force, GPs were held personally responsible for the care of
their patients, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. OOH care was
turning off a lot of doctors including women GPs from entering the
profession. Now there is an improvement in morale and
recruitment. The College warned Primary Care Trusts before OOH care
was handed over to them in 2004 that more provision for schemes
including GP cooperatives – a scheme which had been working well in
a number of areas - needed to be made to avoid problems.”
“It is now time to move on and
focus on the needs of patients. PCTs and GPs should work together
to improve out of hours care for patients.”
Ends
The RCGP urgent care
strategy and action plan can be seen on the College
website