In September 2008 the independent regulator, the Healthcare Commission, published its review of Urgent and Emergency Care which rated the Peterborough primary care trust (PCT) area as 3 or “better performing” and the Cambridgeshire PCT area as 4 or “best performing”, of which performance on out-of-hours services contributed around 25 per cent. to this score.
More widely, the review found that the national health service has made significant progress on performance against the out-of-hours National Quality Requirements for the delivery of out-of-hours services compared to a similar survey carried out by the National Audit Office in 2005. In addition, the overall results of the review were positive, with 60 per cent. of PCTs scored as “better” or “best performing” and 82 per cent. rated as at least “fair performing”.
PCTs have a responsibility to ensure they provide, or secure provision of, a high quality, sustainable service for their local population. Where a provider is failing to meet the National Quality Requirements, PCTs, as commissioners of the service, and strategic health authorities must act to support out-of-hours providers to improve their performance. It is vital that if the local NHS has concerns about the quality of out-of-hours provision in its area, it takes urgent and robust action to improve services.