GP cover firm defends experience

Out of hours doctors cover will be provided by Clinical Solutions UK

A company selected to take over the out-of-hours doctor cover in Cardiff has defended its experience after criticism from some GPs in the city.

Clinical Solutions UK/Europe Ltd was selected to take over the running of the service from September.

But a co-operative of GPs who had been responsible for providing the cover said the company lacked experience.

But Clinical Solutions UK/Europe said the team behind the Cardiff service has "a vast amount of experience".

Andrew Preston, the chief executive officer of the company said: "We have an excellent calibre of out-of-hours experienced staff."

He said that the company aimed to deliver a "world class service" in Cardiff.

Staff and management from Cadoc, the co-operative of doctors who have been running the out-of-hours service in the city for the last eight years, are expected to drafted in by the company to deliver the service.

I would like to see the company demonstrate how they are going to provide this service in Cardiff Alun Jones, Cadoc

Mr Preston added that the Cardiff service would be run by an experienced team which included Dr Colin Barrett who ran one of the biggest out-of-hours services in the UK when he was in charge of Glasgow Emergency Medical Services.

The new out-of-hours arrangements come into force on 30 September, and are the result of responsibility for providing out-of-hours services passing from GPs to the health board.

GPs in Cardiff have been providing such cover through two organisations, Cadoc, a local GP co-operative running for eight years, and Primecare, a commercial organisation.

Cadoc had applied to the local health board to continue running the out-of-hours care, but its bid was rejected in favour of Clinical Solutions UK/Europe.

But members of Cadoc have said they are unhappy that no details of how the company will run the service have been released yet and questioned the experience of the firm in running the service.

Mr Alun Jones, director of Cadoc and a Cardiff GP, said they had conducted their own inquiries and could find no evidence of Clinical Solutions UK/Europe providing face to face cover anywhere in the UK.

"I would like to see the company demonstrate how they are going to provide this service in Cardiff," he added.

Information campaign

But Clinical Solutions UK/Europe said that an information campaign for patients and local health providers will be held nearer the go-live date.

"We have been undertaking a series of meetings with local health providers," said Mr Preston from the company.

"All staff, both clinical and non-clinical will be employed locally.

"We have already had a significant amount of interest from local doctors who work for the existing providers."

Meanwhile, Dr Andrew Dearden, chairman of the Welsh GP committee of the British Medical Association said time was needed to see how the company performed in providing the service.