Out Of Hours
Out of hours is from 6pm to 8am on weekdays and all of the weekend and any public holidays.
On November 1st 2004, the Scarborough, Whitby, Ryedale Primary Care
Trust took over responsibility for GP out of hours services for all GP
Practices in this area. They initially commissioned North Yorkshire
Emergency Doctors to provide this service, and subsequently have
commissioned Primecare to provide this service. A number of local GPs do
out of hours sessions for Primecare, but Primecare also employs locums
and other doctors to fill the remaining sessions.
NHS North
Yorkshire and York (formed by the merger of 4 North Yorkshire PCTs)
is now responsible for commissioning out of hours services in our area.
Improvements to out of hours cover
January 2007
The local GPs (Whitby, Sleights, Egton, Danby and Staithes practices)
and the PCT have negotiated a special personal medical services contract
to provide out of hours cover for the area on weeknights. This means
that a local GP will be providing the out of hours GP cover until 11pm
on normal (not public holiday) weekday nights. There are many advantages
to patients, local GPs and the provider organisations of this
arrangement.
After 11pm the on call Primecare doctor covering our area is based in
Pickering and patients will normally be asked to attend the out of hours
Primary Care Centre in Pickering if they need a doctor after 11pm on
weeknights. Only patients whose medical condition requires it will get
home visits. At weekends and public holidays Primecare provide all the
GP cover to our area.
Patients should still access out of hours through Primecare.
In some ways this is a partial return to the out of hours service that
we were able to provide before the PCT took over responsibility for out
of hours.
Local GPs will continue to provide Whitby Community Hospital cover on
weekend and public holiday mornings
It is very important that patients who need to see a GP during the out
of hours period should contact Primecare and not attend the Minor
Injuries Unit (MIU) in Whitby Hospital (nor should they attend the
Accident and Emergency department in Scarborough). The MIU is there for
minor injuries, so patients with problems that need a GP will be advised
to contact their GP during the in-hours period or Primecare out of
hours.
To contact Primecare either phone the surgery main number for a recorded
message with the number, or phone direct 0845 056 8060
