Out-of-hours GP services in the Burnham-On-Sea will be taken over by a new supplier following the current service being described as “unacceptable”, the county’s clinical commissioning group has said.
Last April government inspectors found the service run by Vocare to be inadequate. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) also found the NHS 111 non-emergency phone line required improvement.
The contract across Somerset will therefore be taken over by Devon Doctors at the end of April.
Vocare has previously apologised for not meeting expected standards and claimed changes had been made.
However, in November the Clinical Commissioning Group asked ambulance crews and hospital A&E departments to be prepared to support the struggling out-of-hours GP service at the busiest times.
In a statement, Vocare and Somerset CCG said they had mutually agreed to end the out-of-hours contract by 30th April. Vocare will continue to run Somerset’s NHS 111 non-emergency phone line.
The county’s independent health and care champion Healthwatch Somerset has welcomed the news.
Emily Taylor, Healthwatch Somerset Manager, said: “We are pleased to hear that prompt action has been taken by Somerset CCG to address the ongoing concerns with Vocare’s delivery of the out of hours services.”
“We welcome the change to improve the out of hours service received by Somerset residents. We will be closely monitoring the public’s experiences of the new service delivered by Devon Doctors from April and invite local people to feed back to us about their experiences of using the service.”
To leave feedback on local health and care services, members of the public are encouraged to call Healthwatch Somerset on 01278 264405, email info@healthwatchsomerset.co.uk or visit www.healthwatchsomerset.co.uk
