Out of hours’ (OOH) care is currently under close scrutiny. In order to understand patients’ perspectives on OOH care I conducted a survey of 186 sequential patients (87 men and 99 women aged 17–93 years) in a rural practice in central Cornwall with a patient population of 5011. Those <16 years, temporary residents, and those with significant cognitive impairment were excluded. Patients were asked ‘Do you know how to reach medical advice out of hours?’. If the answer was ‘no’ they were invited to make a guess to see if they would reach the right conclusion.
Almost half (44%) knew how to obtain medical advice out of hours and a further 17% guessed correctly, but 33% made an incorrect guess or no guess at all, and the remainder made an alternative suggestion which was likely to be successful. Dialling 999 was suggested by 9%. The incorrect attempts at 111 were surprisingly varied and included 101, 118, 121, 212, 911, and 991. Small numbers of responders would ask a relative or go to accident and emergency.
The study is small but hints at a significant problem, because one–third of the sample was unaware of how to access appropriate OOH care. This group represents patients who are either making demands on the ambulance service instead, or are missing the opportunity to access suitable OOH care.
Better awareness could be achieved by an information push within practices and commissioning groups, and possibly the use of patient participation groups. Making the future NHS work on budget will need collaboration between medical professions and the public; improved systems and communication should be a cornerstone of this work.
- © British Journal of General Practice 2014