Provision of Primary Care Out of Hours Services

The contract is for the provision of primary care out of hours services in the county of Gloucestershire. The aims and objectives of the service are:

 To provide urgent primary care (out-of-hours) for those patients who cannot reasonably wait until the in-hours primary care service is available again.

 To provide face to face consultations at treatment centres or in the patient’s home and telephone assessment and advice in support of the NHS 111 service during the out of hours period.

 To provide a clear local patient care pathway which integrates and collaborates with the major healthcare, social care and voluntary sector providers in Gloucestershire in the delivery of out of hospital care.

 To provide proactive care for patients who are identified by their in-hours GP, Integrated Care Team (ICT), Care Home or Paediatric Specialist as requiring follow-up/home visit during the out-of-hours period to ensure timely care and help avoid a hospital admission.  To provide urgent medical cover out-of-hours to inpatients in community hospitals within Gloucestershire.

 To provide enhanced levels of clinical advice to patients and HCPs (including Paramedics) through accessible and responsive telephone support supplemented as necessary by taking responsibility for care of some patients.

 To support care closer to home and avoid unnecessary acute admissions to hospitals by liaising with other services for alternative pathways of care.

 To establish working protocols which will enable the service to seamlessly transfer care to another provider/service, when the patient’s needs would be better met by others with more specialist skills.

 To maximise use of skill-mix to provide the most appropriate care.

 To ensure services are provided in safe and secure environments that are supportive of privacy, dignity, confidentiality and individuality.