Journal advertorial, North East Business Awards
May 2007
Profile of Northern Doctors Urgent Care, Services Award Finalist
A finalist in the Services Award category, Northern Doctors Urgent Care (NDUC) is a not-for-profit, leading GP out-of-hours care provider that serves almost one million patients and has consistently exceeded Government quality targets.
Whenever a member of the public in Northumberland, Newcastle, North or South Tyneside falls ill outside of standard GP surgery hours, NDUC is on call to answer queries and advise on which form of care best suits patients’ needs. In practice, this might mean a face-to-face consultation at one of their seven urgent care centres, a home visit or simply providing basic clinical information and advice over the telephone.
At a time when GP out-of-hours services have come under fire from the media for failing to meet standards, NDUC has proved that it is possible to deliver a cost-efficient service, while exceeding targets and providing high quality patient care.
This year marks the first time that NDUC has entered the North East Business Awards and the organisation is very pleased to be one of three finalists for the Services Award.
NDUC started out as a GP co-operative in Northumberland 10 years ago. The group restructured in its current form to support NHS Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), which were handed responsibility for out-of-hours care when GP contracts were changed in September 2004.
Today, NDUC provides round-the-clock urgent medical care to patients and continues to build on its strong track record in exceeding targets set by the Department of Health.
For example, when urgent face-to-face attention from a doctor was required, 98 per cent of NDUC’s patients were seen within two hours during 2006, exceeding the Department of Health’s requirement of 95 per cent.
“This nomination recognises our success as an exemplary out-of-hours care provider,” said Eric Peacock, chief executive at NDUC.
“Our achievements to date show that out-of-hours services can provide excellent clinical care for patients, while meeting and exceeding standards, if the right delivery model is in place. We have proved that it is possible to be cost-efficient and therefore save tax-payers’ money, at the same time.”
He added: “I think the fact that we’ve seen a 10 per cent increase in calls at the start of this year compared to the same time last year shows that people find the service useful and have faith in how we can help them.”
NDUC’s services extend widely beyond out-of-hours care provision and its achievements over the past 10 years include the creation of a training scheme with GP registrars (trainee GPs) that teaches new doctors about specific clinical skills for out-of-hours care and the development of monitoring tools to support doctors in developing their telephone consulting skills.
The organisation also handles dental out-of-hours calls for Northumberland and recently had its contract renewed to respond to calls on behalf of the Commission for Social Care Inspection.
NDUC achieved its ISO 9001 in 2006 demonstrating that quality and consistency can be achieved within a fixed budget by hard work and staff dedication.
NDUC’s latest projects include the launch of Clinical Navigator, an initiative designed to support local clinicians in providing appropriate care pathways for patients requiring unscheduled urgent care. The main aim of the project is to reduce unnecessary unscheduled emergency admissions by organising alternative means of treatment, by using services already available in the community, such as community nursing care and rapid response clinical teams.
NDUC works closely with other healthcare providers, such as the North East Ambulance Service, as part of its efforts to reduce A&E referrals, and operates an internal admissions project team tasked with reducing admissions while maintaining clinical safety. During evenings, nights and weekends, NDUC GPs provide over the phone medical advice to paramedics on scene with a patient.
Keen to diversify its services further to include 24 hour cover and expand its reach, geographically, NDUC has ambitious plans for the future, in the North East England and beyond.
