Your Doctor Has Got You Covered

The Doctor Patient Partnership Your Doctor Has Got You Covered campaign was launched today (Tuesday, 24 March 1998) by Alan Milburn, Minister of State for Health; Claire Rayner, Chair, Patients Association and Dr Simon Fradd, Chairman, Doctor Patient Partnership. The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness about changes in the delivery of emergency medical services when the doctor's surgery is closed?known as 'out of hours' care?and to encourage the public to use these services responsibly, especially during the upcoming Easter and May bank holidays.

Alan Milburn, Minister of State for Health, welcomed the campaign: "Family doctors play a vital role in the provision of health care by offering a high standard of care around the clock. Bank holidays are among the busiest time of the year for doctors working out of hours and the Easter bank holiday is the longest public holiday of the year. We want to help people make the best use of their family doctor service over this period. We also want to show them how they can be confident in looking after their own health, so family doctors will have more time to look after patients in potential emergencies.

"The Doctor Patient Partnership Campaign has done an excellent job over the last couple of years in fostering partnership and co-operation between patient and doctor. Patients have a right to NHS services with a responsibility to use them wisely. The Easter campaign will reinforce that message."

Dr Fradd, a Nottingham GP and Chairman of the DPP, said: "There has been a dramatic revolution in out of hours care in the last two years. Most GP surgeries have changed the way they provide care in the evenings, at weekends and during bank holidays. GP co-operatives have mushroomed and together with deputising services and GP rota services, they operate almost 300 new primary care emergency centres. All these services now function on the triple response basis?that is telephone advice, patients visiting emergency centres or GPs visiting patients at home.

"Patients are being given a greater choice than ever before in primary care services. This shift represents a huge change in the delivery and an improvement in the standard of care. Continuous monitoring and training on telephone advice is undertaken to ensure a high quality of service.

"Of course, patients like to see their own doctor when they are ill, but it is not realistic for GPs to be constantly on-call. Doctors, like everyone else, need a full night of sleep so they are in a fit and alert state when they see patients. Patients should be assured that when they are seen by an unfamiliar GP, details of their consultation will be forwarded to their own GP to inform them of the contact and the examining doctors' conclusions.

"With the Easter and May bank holidays coming up, the DPP wanted to remind people that out of hours services are intended for urgent medical emergencies that cannot wait until the next routine surgery. Patients can help themselves by ensuring that their prescriptions are up-to-date and asking their pharmacists for advice for the treatment of minor conditions. Patients who are properly prepared can avoid wasting their holiday and spend more time enjoying themselves."

Claire Rayner, Chair of the Patients Association, commented: "Of course people want to use GP services sensibly. Being reminded to stock up on your prescription medicine is very useful before the holidays. It is very comforting to know that your local pharmacist can provide excellent primary care advice for problems during out of hours and over the bank holidays."

1. The number of night visits carried out by the average GP has increased more than six times in 25 years and more than doubled in the past decade. (Figures from GP Workload Survey, General Medical Service Committee of the BMA)
2. A vast majority of the general public in the UK (81%) know how to get in touch with their doctor if they urgently want to contact them. (MORI poll, 6-9 March 1998) *
3. Patients are more satisfied with the out of hours care provided by practice doctors than that provided by deputising doctors. However, there seems to be no appreciable difference in health outcome between the two types of service. ("Comparison of out of hours care provided by patients' own general practitioners and commercial deputising services: a randomised controlled trial. II: The outcome of care" R K McKinley, DK Cragg, A M Hastings DP French, T K Manku-Scott, S M Campbell, F Van, M O Roland, C Roberts, BMJ Vol 314, 18 January 1997)
4. Three in ten people (30%) called their GP out of hours in the last year. (MORI poll, 6-9 March 1998) **
5. Of 11% of patients who used out of hours services, 87% were satisfied with the service they received. (MORI poll for the BBC, 2-21 January 1998)
6. 59% of patients surveyed in a poll by the BBC said they were likely to call a proposed helpline staffed by nurses which patients with minor illness may use instead of visiting their GP. (BBC survey, 2 February 1998)
7. The DPP has produced thousands of out of hours information pamphlets and postcards for DPP health authorities/boards and co-operatives to distribute these locally to promote the out of hours message to patients.

Technical details

* MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 2,139 adults aged 15+, in home, in 169 sampling points throughout Great Britain. Field work took place between 6-9 March 1998. Data has been weighted to reflect the known population. ** MORI interviewed 4,579 adults aged 18+ by telephone. Field work took place across the UK between 2-21 January 1998. All data has been weighted to reflect the known population profile. profile.