Doctors' service 'meets targets'

Criticisms of Serco included phone calls going unanswered

Health chiefs in Cornwall say the county's out-of-hours doctor service has met all the targets set out in an improvement plan.

The service, run by Serco, was given 20 days to improve after complaints by patients, MPs and health officials.

One of the main complaints was that calls were going unanswered.

Cornwall's Primary Care Trust said it was "optimistic" at recent improvements but that it would continue to carefully monitor the service.

Serco has come in for much criticism since it took over the out-of-hours service in April 2006, replacing the GP co-operative KernowDoc.

In December alone, 18% of calls went unanswered.

Other complaints included patients being left without urgent medication when pharmacists were unable to contact the service.

Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt described it as very poor.

Serco said it had not been happy with its performance and added that it was working hard on continuing to improve.