Better monitoring of out-of-hours GP services
2 October 2009
The NHS may fail to spot concerns about patient safety unless it improves its monitoring of out-of-hours GP services. These are the early observations from our enquiry into out-of-hours provider Take Care Now.
Our enquiry into Take Care Now was triggered by the tragic case of Mr David Gray, a patient who was treated by a locum doctor from Germany and died following the administration of 100mg of diamorphine.
We have published an interim statement on progress over the last three months since our enquiry began in June.
We visited the five Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) that commission out-of-hours services from Take Care Now. We found that although trusts monitor response times, they do not consistently look at the quality of care. This could mean potential problems and indications of poor care could be missed.
As monitoring varied across all five trusts, we are concerned PCTs across the country may not be monitoring GP out-of-hours services closely enough.
Cynthia Bower, CQC's chief executive, says:
"Although we are still in the early stages of our enquiries, we believe this may point towards a national problem. We are therefore encouraging PCTs across the country to scrutinize in more detail the out-of-hours services they commission.
"GP out-of-hours services provide vital care to people outside of normal surgery hours. As commissioners of these services, PCTs need to ensure people receive safe, quality care around the clock."
