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Nearly one million consultations carried out last year

Almost one million consultations with around 900,000 patients were carried out by GP out of hours services last year, new figures published yesterday show.

These statistics, published for the first time by ISD Scotland, will help inform the National Review of GP Out of Hours services led by Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie.

Commenting on the statistics, Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “Access to urgent primary medical services outside normal GP surgery hours is a fundamental part of unscheduled care in Scotland. The statistics released yesterday show, for the first time, the key role GP out-of-hours services play in Scotland – with nearly 900,000 patients seen and almost one million consultations carried out last year.

“This new statistical publication by ISD Scotland is to be welcomed and provides a fuller picture of the activity of GP out-of-hours services.

“The information will also help support the National Review of GP Out-of-Hours Services, announced earlier this year, which is considering how best to deliver these services in light of the challenges of Scotland’s ageing population, and the new ways of working that health and social care integration will bring.”

The Review, which is being led by Professor Ritchie, is expected to report its recommendations to the Scottish Government in the autumn.

Professor Ritchie has now completed his national engagement programme of visits to health board areas across Scotland, where he has been gathering the views of health professionals and other stakeholders as well as patient groups across the country.

The review team visited every health board area in Scotland in order to better understand the issues facing the delivery and sustainability of primary care services when GP surgeries are closed. This included issues such as working across remote and rural areas, as well as the recruitment and retention of GPs, staff availability, consistency of service and public expectations

Professor Ritchie said:

“Over the summer the review group undertook a programme of national engagement across Scotland. This gave a wide range of professionals engaged in the delivery of primary care out of hours services and patient groups the opportunity to express their views from both a regional and national perspective. It was interesting to hear clinicians, administrators and support colleagues including doctors, like myself, nurses, pharmacists, Scottish Ambulance Service and NHS 24 personnel, managers, patients and other partner agencies.

“The regional visits provided me and the team with invaluable insight into the different approaches in each area and to hear about not only some of the challenges that we know services are facing but also some of the innovative solutions that are being developed. All of these views will help shape the review as we being to crystallise our thinking and form our recommendations. I am grateful to all of those who took the time to attend the visits and to talk to me

“During my visits I was pleased to be able to see first-hand the work underway at a local level. In Inverness for example I visited the Highland Hub, which is in the same building as NHS 24 and Scottish Ambulance Service Dispatch Centre. The staff there deal with hundreds of calls both in and out of hours and cover social care, telecare as well as primary care. This is an excellent example of how hubs can support services across the region through having the right information and access to appropriate advice at all times.”

Notes To Editors

The publication, GP Out of Hours Services in Scotland – 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015, is available on the ISD Scotland website: http://www.isdscotland.org/

There were a total of 894,474 patients seen at GP Out of Hours services in Scotland and a total of 997,112 consultations carried out over the year.

The review comes more than a decade after the 2004 UK GP contract, which transferred responsibility for delivery of out-of-hours primary care services to the management of health boards.

Anyone wishing to share an experience or offer a view can do so at: OutofHoursReview@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

To find out more about the review, or submit a written contribution please visit:http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Health/Services/nrpcooh

Comments from regional visits:

Grampian

Dr Nick Fluck, Medical Director, NHS Grampian said: "We are very supportive of this review and were pleased to welcome Sir Lewis back to NHS Grampian. His time with the board – and as a GP in this region – meant he brought with him a clear understanding of the particular challenges we face. We serve both urban and rural populations, each with their own health issues, and face similar demographic pressures to other parts of Scotland. This review is very timely and we look forward to publication of the final report later this year."

Dumfries & Galloway

Dr Angus Cameron, Medical Director for NHS Dumfries & Galloway and a former GP said: “We welcome the national review of the Out of Hours Services. We recognise that we need to move to encompass a range of health care professionals and operational support staff who will work together to help deliver a continuum of care and responsive service for our people. We have a local review underway, examining how best we can take forward our out of hours urgent care services, Sir Lewis was able to meet with the review group and discuss the issues. We look forward to hearing the outcomes of Sir Lewis Ritchie’s national review which will help us shape our local service.”

Fife

Dr Frances Elliot, NHS Fife Medical Director said: “We welcome the opportunity this engagement event has provided for patients and healthcare staff in Fife to give their views on out of hours services.

“We recognise the importance of delivering a high quality and safe out of hours service for our patients and look forward to the outcome of the review. Any recommendations will be considered as we prepare our new clinical strategy for NHS Fife which will include access to out of hours care.”

Greater Glasgow & Clyde

David Leese, Chief Officer Renfrewshire Partnership, said: “This has been an excellent opportunity to share our perspectives on addressing the challenges in delivering out of hours care with the national team and sharing the excellent work our teams do across NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.”

Highland

Dr Ken Proctor, Associate Medical Director (Primary Care) for NHS Highland, welcomed the visit and opportunity for wide-ranging discussions. He said: “Sir Lewis explained the national review and the emerging solutions. He was keen to learn about our specific challenges, find out what the national review could do to support the people of Highland. He also wanted to personally thank the people who work in the service.”

Mrs Gill McVicar, Director of Operations for North and West Highland said: “Highland has very specific challenges due to the vast areas and distances, the ability to recruit and retain staff and the cost of providing services in remote and rural areas. We need to be thinking quite differently about how we build for the future. We also discussed the need for continued focus on improving reliable Broadband and mobile phone use across all our areas.”

Orkney

Cathie Cowan, the Chief Executive of NHS Orkney said: “The NHS is a precious institution but it now needs to respond to very different challenges and the health board is committed to working with staff, partners and the people of Orkney to build on our successes and to explore new perspectives that will result in service improvements that benefit everyone.”

Shetland

Ralph Roberts, NHS Shetland Chief Executive, said: “I am very pleased that Professor Ritchie has visited Shetland because it is essential this review addresses the challenges in providing Out of Hours services across the whole of Scotland, including Island communities. We are committed to providing good quality and locally accessible services and look forward to the outcomes from the review supporting how we do this in the future. This recognises that we will need to adapt our services if they are to be sustainable and help us to attract new GPs and Primary care staff to live and work in Shetland.”

Lanarkshire

Iain Wallace, Medical Director, NHS Lanarkshire, said: “We welcomed the opportunity to set out the challenges facing out-of-hours services in Lanarkshire to Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie as part of the national review process. We shared the findings of our own local review of out-of-hours which included a public consultation exercise earlier this year. It is clear that services need to evolve to ensure patients are receiving safe and effective care out of hours, now and in the future. We hope the outcome the national review will help Lanarkshire and other Boards across Scotland to develop sustainable and innovative solutions to the currently challenges and help us move towards a high quality service that meets the needs of patients.”

Lothian

Professor Alex McMahon, Director of Strategic Planning, Performance Reporting & Information, NHS Lothian, said: "NHS Lothian is committed to providing the best and safest patient-centred care at all times and we are working with local organisations to ensure health and social services are coordinated. This session was very worthwhile and provided valuable learning opportunities and we hope it will prove useful in the wider review.”