Can we improve doctors' out of hours service?

Written by David Heath MP and published in Somerset Standard on Fri 19th Feb 2010

Somerset Primary Care Trust is to be congratulated on agreeing to a meeting with local people about the out-of-hours doctors' service. I raised the issue in parliament last week, pointing out that not a single out-of-hours doctor is based in my constituency, which extends over nine hundred square miles. Of course, there is a mobile unit based in Shepton Mallet, but many are not reassured by the fact that one car covers the whole of Mendip.

The geographical issue is further complicated by the fact that nowhere in my constituency is there an Accident & Emergency department either, simply because no town, including Frome, comes even close to the population required to justify one. Anyone with a trauma injury has to be taken up to Bath, and the time required to first get to the patient, and then take them to casualty, has to be factored into the response time

I hope Somerset PCT, when reviewing its arrangements, will look at whether extra evening treatment centres and at least one, perhaps two extra cars on duty across the county might be required. And certainly, where we have community hospitals, like Frome, does it not make sense for a GP to be contracted to be on duty during evening hours to ensure expert advice? I appreciate that systems like NHS Direct do provide advice on demand, but sometimes you need to see a doctor, and in a place like Somerset, sometimes they need to come to you.