The chief executive of the new body responsible for GP practices in Stone says that an interim arrangement is being put in place for the new NHS 111 non-emergency advice line.
Andrew Donald, chief officer of Stafford and Surrounds Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) issued a statement following the decision of NHS Direct yesterday to pull out of providing the service in the West Midlands.
He has advised patients in Stone to call their GP surgery out of hours until the interim arrangements are in place.
All CCGs across the country have to provide an NHS 111 service for patients – a replacement for the old national NHS Direct service. The new service is run by different organisations in different parts of the country, with private companies, local ambulance services and NHS Direct all taking on contracts last year.
Andrew Donald said: “After engaging with other out-of-hours service providers we have appointed Staffordshire Doctors Urgent Care (SDUC) to work up plans for implementation of the 111 service locally.
“SDUC are part of the Vocare Group, which currently provide services to a population of over 1.5 million, including Stoke-on-Trent and parts of Staffordshire. They have a history of providing urgent care services dating back 17 years and are a partner in the North East England NHS 111 service which is one of the best performing in the country.
“Patient safety is absolutely paramount and we will not announce a date for the interim solution to go live until we are satisfied it is totally robust. It will then be introduced using a phased approach, so that we can get the service absolutely right for each local community.
“In the meantime, Staffordshire people who require support outside GP opening hours should continue to call their regular GP number. This system is currently working well. Calls are currently being answered in the required time-frame, and there has been no significant increase in attendances at A&E or in ambulance despatches.”
