Below are links to a number or organisations who carry out important work on urgent & primary care. We have also added to links to influential reports that we refer to elsewhere.
For an excellent summary of guidance for the NHS in delivering out-of-hours GP services, updated in November 2010 - Guidance for the NHS in Delivering Out-of-Hours GP Services
General practice out-of-hours services: project to consider and assess current arrangements, by Dr Davis Colin-Thomé & Professor Steve Field, February 2010
NHS Comparators - Free comparative analysis for commissioners and providers
Royal College of General Practitioners
NHS Confederation Ambulance Service Network
An Independent Review of GP Out-of-Hours Services in England (the ‘Carson Review’), October 2000
'Take Care Now' - Quality Care Commission
'The Provision of Out-of-Hours Care in England' May 2006

2001 report into reforming emergency care from the Department of Health
2010 A&E quality indicators from the Department of Health
2010 Review of trends in emergency admissions by Nuffield Trust
2010 CQC investigation into GP Take Care Now
2010 DH Report into general practice out of hours services
2008 review of urgent care from the Healthcare Commission
2006 report on support for self care in General Practice and Urgent Care settings
2005 best practice on emergency admissions from the Department of Health
2004 National Audit Office report into improving emergency care in England
2004 report into transforming emergency care from the Department of Health
2008 Delivering emergency care services in Wales
A guide to good practice drawn up in Wales in support of the above
2009 Unscheduled care - developing a whole systems approach (also from Wales)
The Primary Care Foundation was established to support the development of best practice in primary and urgent care. The three Directors bring different skills and perspectives to understanding primary and urgent health care - for more details click below:
We also work with a number of associates
Our latest report ‘Breaking the mould without breaking the system: new ideas and resources for clinical commissioners on the journey towards integrated 24/7 urgent care’ is now available to download CLICK HERE. It is published in partnership with the NHS Alliance and will be formally launched at a session at the NHS Alliance annual conference in Manchester on 1st December 2011.
We are working with increasing numbers of practice to improve access and urgent care in general practice. If you would like to know more about our web based tool and customised reports based on a week of practice data and join over 300 practices across the UK,please email Rick Stern at rick.stern@primarycarefoundation.co.uk
For an independent view of our work with practices on access and urgent care CLICK HERE for the article in the HSJ on 24th November 2011
4th round of the out of hours benchmark. You should be receiving final data for validation soon and the first open set of openly available results will be available from this website in the New Year.