Improving services at your local surgery
Herefordshire Primary Care Trust is working to develop a better range of health care services closer to where you live. Our aim is to improve people's health by increasing the quality and range of services provided by local family practices across Herefordshire. The improvement will be brought about by the introduction of new working arrangements for family practices. These new arrangements are designed to help practices to offer their patients an even better service and are accompanied by extra funding.
What is planned and when will it happen?
New working arrangements for local family practice were introduced from April 2004.
These changes should deliver a wider range of services locally - some could be at your local family practice, others could be at another practice or clinic in your area. In some cases, these new services will bring types of care that were previously only available in hospital to a practice or clinic close to where you live.
How does this affect me as a patient?
You are unlikely to have noticed any immediate changes. You will continue to be registered with your local family practice and be able to see the GP of your choice, as you do now. However, over time, you should start to see improvement in both the quality and range of services available in your neighbourhood and you should have less need to go to hospital to get the care you need
Which health services will my family practice provide?
Your practice will continue to provide a wide range of health care and you will be able to see a GP or other health care professional as you do now.
Your practice will be able to decide what services to offer to meet its patients' needs and it will continue to provide the vast majority of the services it does now. Occasionally, some practices might choose to opt out of providing certain services. However, these will still be available in your local area. Practices might also offer new services that may have been available only in hospital in the past.
If your practice introduced any changes to their services or if a particular service is to be provided elsewhere, you will be informed.
Will this affect the treatment I get?
The new working arrangement mean practices will be encouraged to improve the quality of care they provide for their patients.
New quality standards will reward practice that give high quality services to their patients suffering from a range of chronic conditions, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and asthma.
What other changes will I notice?
Practices are being encouraged to make the best use of the skills of ever member of their professional team. This could mean you might see a nurse or another highly trained health professional, rather than a GP, if you are suffering from a minor condition such as a cough or cold or minor injury. Many practice nurses are already qualified to prescribe the medicines you need for these conditions. This will enable practices to see patients more quickly. In particular, it will free up doctors to be able to see patients who most need their attention.
How will I be able to see a doctor when my practice is closed?
The new working arrangements give family practices greater flexibility over the services they provide. This is designed to enable them to reduce the workload of individual GPs - an important factor in helping the NHS recruit more doctors to work in family practice. It will also create new career opportunities for nurses and other health professionals within family practice. Under the new arrangements, practices can choose to hand over responsibility for providing cover outside normal opening times to their local Primary Care Trust. Nine out of ten family practices in the UK already use separate deputising services when their practice is closed.
The out of hours cover for all practices in Herefordshire is provided by a company called Primecare. This means patients only need to dial one number to contact a doctor outside of normal surgery hours. The number - 0330 123 9309 - is answered by someone trained in making sure patients receive the right sort of help quickly. This service is for emergency doctor cover only and should not be used for routine appointments or repeat prescriptions. It operates between 6pm and 8am Monday to Friday, and all day Saturday, Sunday, Public Holidays and Bank Holidays. Patients should contact their surgery at all other times.
These arrangements are good for patients and doctors, because GPs no longer have to work on call at night then see patients the next day when they may be tired.