Archived decisions
NHS Hampshire
Out of Hours Services in Hampshire
This report has been drafted for the Hampshire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) to provide further assurance on the provision of Out of Hours Services for the local population. In 2008, the HOSC received a report on the infrastructure and performance of Hampshire Out of Hours Services. This report draws on the outcome of a Healthcare Commission review into urgent and emergency care, published in the autumn of 2008.
The Healthcare Commission reviewed the complete spectrum of urgent and emergency care (including ambulance services, A & E, Out of Hours, GP services, NHS Direct and minor injuries unit) for 152 Primary Care Trusts (PCTs). For the purposes of this paper, the reviews relating to Out of Hours Services have been included for South Central PCTs.
PCT name |
Overall Rating |
Overall Rating (Value) |
Out-of-hours GP phone response |
Satisfaction with GP surgery phone response |
Out-of-hours GP services time to start phone assessments |
% out-of-hours GP calls engaged/abandoned |
Satisfaction with opening hours of GP services |
Provision of medication by out of hours GP services |
% of face-to-face OOH GP assessments started in two hours |
Quality assurance in out-of-hours GP services |
% of out-of-hours assessments sent to patient's GP by 8am the next day |
% of NHS Direct assessments passed to out-of hours service electronically |
Development of systems to share care plans |
Ability to transfer calls and information between services |
Berkshire East PCT |
Best Performing |
4 |
||||||||||||
Berkshire West PCT |
Best Performing |
4 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
Oxfordshire PCT |
Best Performing |
4 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Southampton City PCT |
Best Performing |
4 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Hampshire PCT |
Better Performing |
3 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
Buckinghamshire PCT |
Fair Performing |
2 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
Isle of Wight PCT |
Fair Performing |
2 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
Milton Keynes PCT |
Fair Performing |
2 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
Portsmouth City Teaching PCT |
Least Well Performing |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
Overall Hampshire PCT was rated as better performing by the Healthcare Commission. For Out of Hours Services, there are some cases that clearly need some improvement, notably:
¬ Phone response to Out of Hours calls, specifically the number of calls that are engaged or abandoned
¬ Provisions of medication by Out of Hours GP services
These are both areas where the current Out of Hours contracting team are focusing ensuring a continued improvement in provision.
Balanced against these development areas, the HOSC is asked to note positive performance of Out of Hours Services in Hampshire starting telephone assessments within 20 minutes of a patient's initial contact if a patients needs were urgent and within 60 minutes otherwise.
The availability of care plans by Out of Hours Services for vulnerable people and those with long term conditions was another area where there was positive performance.
Hampshire's OOH services are provided by 4 providers, all of whom operate on APMS contracts. In addition to the Healthcare Commission review, Hampshire PCT has participated, together with all 4 of the Service Providers in a national Benchmarking exercise organised by the Primary Care Foundation. The results of the benchmarking were circulated on the 19th March and whilst detailed analysis has yet to take place, the indications are that all 4 providers offered an average or above service to patients on all aspects of service delivery - including response times, productivity and that 3 of the 4 providers were below average costs, with only one being above average. A national workshop is taking place on 23rd March to review the findings in more detail. A verbal briefing will be available at the next Scrutiny Committee.