DH - GP out of hours services: letter from David Nicholson - 4 Feb 10
This letter announces the publication of the report 'General practice out-of-hours services: project to consider and assess current arrangements'
Extract
4 February 2010
Gateway number: 13512
Dear Colleague
GP OUT OF HOURS SERVICES
The Department is today publishing a report
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_111892
on GP out of hours services commissioned by Mike O’Brien, Minister of State for Health Services, from Dr David Colin-Thomé, National Clinical Director for Primary Care at the Department of Health, and Professor Steve Field, Chairman of Council, Royal College of General Practitioners to review the current arrangements for the local commissioning and provision of out-of-hours services in October 2009.
The report makes a number of important recommendations on the commissioning and performance management of out-of-hours services; the selection, induction, training and use of out-of-hours clinicians; and the management and operation of medical Performers Lists. The Minister has accepted the recommendations – insofar as they apply to the NHS – in full. In addition, the Minister has announced a further range of new measures to strengthen arrangements for the commissioning and provision of out of hours services:
- reviewing the existing National Quality Requirements in order to develop a stronger set of national, minimum standards with which all out-of-hours providers will be required to comply;
- developing a new national model contract for out-of-hours provision, based on the new national minimum standards, to be introduced by the end of the year to reflect the characteristics of existing high quality provision
- through stronger performance management by SHAs, tightening existing controls to ensure PCTs are meeting their legal obligations through commissioning and contracting arrangements and that providers are employing competent clinicians to practice as GPs in primary care out-of-hours. It is also the Minister’s intention to direct PCTs to review their current procedures and to ensure that they have a clear policy in place for assessing the language knowledge of persons applying for inclusion on the
- local Perfomers List.
- Requiring PCTs to involve GPs much more in ensuring high quality provision of out-of-hours services through, for example, Local Medical Committees, RCGP groups, Faculties, clinical executive groups, local and with practice-based commissioning consortia.
I am now asking you and your board to review the report carefully and implement the recommendations as they apply to your PCT. You and your board should take urgent steps to assure yourselves that, both operationally and contractually, robust arrangements are in place to deliver safe out of hours services in your area and to report action you have taken to your SHA. In reviewing your arrangements, you will need to support your out-of-hours providers as they implement the recommendations that apply to them. I will ask the NHS Operations Board to ensure that appropriate action has been taken by all PCTs in their area.
PCTs should be confident that they have undertaken all checks set out in the Performers List Regulations to ensure doctors on their list have the necessary skills and experience and are suitable to perform primary medical services in their area.
I would also like to remind you that the Performers List Regulations 2004 place a legal duty on a PCT to refuse to admit a practitioner to its Performers List if it is not satisfied they have the knowledge of English necessary to perform primary care services in its area. It is of the utmost importance that doctors are able to communicate effectively with their patients. I am therefore attaching to this letter new interim guidance to Primary Care Trusts to assist them in complying with their obligations to ensure all doctors admitted to their performers list have a satisfactory knowledge of English.
Where a PCT refuses to admit a doctor to its Performers List it must notify the General Medical Council. Equally, where a PCT has concerns that a doctor's ability to perform his duties as a medical practitioner may be impaired they should consider the need to make a referral to the General Medical Council.
If you have any immediate queries about the contents of this letter, please contact James Adedeji, Deputy Head of Urgent & Emergency Care at james.adedeji@dh.gsi.gov.uk.
Yours sincerely
Sir David Nicholson KCB CBE
NHS Chief Executive
Related items:
- BMA response to out-of-hours report - 4 Feb 10
- DH - Greater improvements to GP out of hours care - 4 Jan 10
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