Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the report by Exeter Medical School showing that private general practitioner out-of-hours care providers in England provided a worse service than the NHS or not-for-profit equivalent.

We are aware of the recent research, which found that on average, less positive patient experiences were associated with commercial providers of out-of-hours general practitioner (GP) care in England, but that the best commercial providers scored higher than many of the National Health Service and not-for-profit providers. The research suggests that further work is required to understand the reasons for this.

We know that there are variations and examples of good practice among all providers; recent inspections of out-of-hours GP services conducted by the Care Quality Commission found many examples of good practice, but also highlighted areas for improvement.

All out-of-hours providers must meet national quality requirements that include sharing details of the patient’s medical history and care plan and ensuring that the patient is treated by the clinician best equipped to meet their needs.

NHS England must support clinical commissioning groups to meet the national quality standards and act appropriately to any concerns arising. GP practices that do not provide out of hours services to their own patients are required to monitor the quality of the out of hours services that are offered or provided to its registered patients having regard to the national quality standards and record, and act appropriately in relation to, any concerns arising.