The Primary Care Foundation and its three partners are frequently quoted in the national media and health press. Below, you can find links to some of the stories over the last two years.
BBC News
‘GP out-of-hours variation unacceptable, says government’ BBC, 2 February, 2010
Newsnight - Out-of-hours GP service 'failing' BBC, 14 January 2010
Guardian
NHS patients in England face 'confusing mix' of urgent healthcare The Guardian November 2011
Out-of-hours GP services not up to NHS standards, research shows The Guardian November 19 2010
Patients should feel welcome at A&E The Guardian March 5 2010
NHS trusts 'breaking law' on out-of-hours GP services The Guardian February 2 2010
Out-of-hours GP services to be monitored more closely The Guardian January 26 2010
Health Service Journal
PCTs need to up game on out of hours coding Health Service Journal, 23 November, 2010
Many primary care trusts do not always record whether out of hours patients go on to hospital and need to improve clinical coding in this area, according to a report by the Primary Care Foundation.
Out of hours performance variation to be made public Health Service Journal, 6 October, 2010
Primary care trusts are to be named and shamed for the first time on the performance of their out of hours provider.
GPs to get commissioning powers - but scant details so far Health Service Journal, 20 May, 2010
The government’s formal coalition agreement confirms GPs will be given commissioning powers - but leaves unanswered questions over their precise responsibilities.
A&E alternatives ‘confuse’ the public Health Service Journal, 25 March 2010
Urgent care in numbers National In 2007-08, 91 PCTs declared no patients attending walk-in centres, according to Healthcare Commission urgent care review figures Of those remaining, walk-in centre use...
Urgent and Emergency Care - conference sessions Health Service Journal 15 March 2010
A business critical briefing from HSJ’s Urgent and Emergency Care conference
Out of hours GP variations 'unacceptable' Health Service Journal 2 February 2010
An unacceptable variation exists between doctors’ out of hours services around the country, Mike O’Brien has admitted.
GP phone-line jams create more hospital admissions Health Service Journal, 12 June 2009
Few things are more frustrating than an automated message saying your phone call is in a queue and will be answered shortly - or just getting the engaged tone. When you are ill, it can be rather more ...
Study reveals three-fold cost variation in GP out of hours services Health Service Journal, 8 April, 2009
GP out of hours services are costing more than three times more per patient in some parts of England than in others …
Clinical leadership in out of hours services Health Service Journal, 7 October, 2008 by Rick Stern
The Department of Health has signalled that it may allow practice-based commissioning consortiums to take over commissioning out of hours services. Rick Stern explains why this would be good for patients and budgets …
Benchmarking out of hours healthcare Health Service Journal,8 September, 2008 by Kaye McIntosh
Huge variations in the cost and quality of out of hours healthcare around the country have led to moves to benchmark these services …
Pulse
Cost of 111 bids forces out-of-hours providers to partner up News article, 28 Oct 2011
Gulf in 111 out-of-hours impact revealed News article 18 Oct 2011
Focus on…urgent care PC Article, 25 Apr 2011
Commissioning download: Benchmarking out-of-hours care Resources 17 Feb 2011
Employing GP in A&E is 'efficient' and speeds care News article 07 Oct 2010
NHS Direct nurse cuts to 'put safety at risk' News article 09 Jun 2010
Polysystem plans 'may not deliver savings' Pulse 14 May 2010
DH set to scale back plan to shift A&E to GPs Pulse 09 Mar 10
DH report shoots down evidence for shift of work from A&E to GPs Pulse 05 Mar 10
Reaction: Government report into OOH care Pulse 04 Feb 10
Government launches pilots of 111 number for urgent care Pulse 21 Dec 09
Government rules out new access targets Pulse 25 Jun 09
'Reserve one third of slots for urgent care' GPs advised Pulse, 1 May 09
Scrutinise your local out-of-hours service Pulse 17 Sep 08
GP Newspaper
Out-of-hours tariff plan may undermine NHS integration 22 September 2011 by Nick Bostock
Out-of-hours providers should benchmark GPs - Foundation report calls for GPs to be compared on performance and productivity GP Newspaper 25 November 2010
How NHS 111 will fit with urgent care. What will the government's NHS 111 service mean for GP practices and commissioning consortia? GP Newspaper 25 November 2010
Out-of-hours providers should benchmark clinicians' performance and productivity against their peers, the Primary Care Foundation has said. GP Newspaper 19 November 2010
Urgent care - Improving out-of-hours care. GP consortia must hold urgent care providers to account and push for improvements, says Rick Stern. GP Newspaper 18 November 2010
'No proof' that GPs in A&E cut costs or admissions GP Newspaper 11 March 2010
No evidence to support GPs' role in A&E, report finds GP Newspaper, 05 March 2010
Primary care - The future of out-of-hours care GP newspaper, 04 February 2010
Out-of-hours providers to face public ratings report GP newspaper, 29 January 2010
Measure for out of hours 'works' GP Newspaper, 15 May 2009
GPs urged to leave third of appointments free GP Newspaper 05 May 2009
DoH urges practices to improve urgent care GP Newspaper, 19 February 2009
Urgent care best practice sought GP Newspaper, 23 May 2008
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.