NHS: Out-of-Hours Services

Baroness Jolly Excerpts

Monday 29th July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I can give the noble Baroness that reassurance, because we want local commissioners and doctors involved in the process to be confident in the service that they are commissioning. We did not ignore the warnings from Dr Buckman and others in the BMA. Indeed, on the strength of that we allowed a six-month extension to those providers who felt they needed it to ensure that they were confident in providing a good service. Only two providers took us up on that, which seemed to indicate that our confidence in the service was not misplaced.

[Baroness Jolly]

My Lords, this is an issue around commissioning. As we have heard, CCGs can now commission NHS 111. Can my noble friend tell the House what support CCGs are likely to receive in commissioning these new services, and from whom?

[Earl Howe]

CCGs, where relevant, are receiving support from local area teams of NHS England.