‘Shambolic’ out-of-hours service reforms slammed

The select committee on public accounts has published its report on reforms made to the provision of out-of-hours care, damning the preparations for the changes as “shambolic”.

In April 2004, the Department of Health offered GPs the opportunity to hand over responsibility for out-of-hours care provision to primary care trusts, with doctors giving up an average of 6,000 pounds a year accordingly.

The report damns the departmental preparation for these changes as “shambolic” at local and national levels, claiming that the department acted only as an observer in contract negotiations and did not adequately explain the scope of the care to be provided.

“The new service is undoubtedly now starting to improve,” the report summary states, while adding that “actual performance against key access targets is still not good enough”.

Furthermore, the report added that the cost of the reformed out-of-hours service has exceeded expectations by approximately 70 million pounds.

Out-of-hours care refers to services provided at weekends, public holidays and between 18:30 and 08:00 on weekdays.

Health secretary Patricia Hewitt has disputed the findings of the report, telling the BBC that most primary care trusts were doing “very well” in their provision of out-of-hours care, while noting that some could improve their performance.