OUT-of-hours health services in West Devon have been dealt a further blow with the axe set to fall on Okehampton Hospital?s overnight on-call doctor. Under proposed changes to out-of-hours GP services, there will no longer be a doctor, with car, based at Okehampton Hospital between 11pm and 8am, from April 1. Opponents fear this will mean doctors will have to come from farther away to treat patients. Devon Doctors on Call ran the service on a co-operative basis until Primary Care Trusts took over responsibility for out-of-hours GP cover last October . Nick Pearson, communication manager for Mid Devon PCT, said the first four months of its operation had demonstrated a successful transition from the old on-call scheme. ?Initial public concern that the service would be swamped prompted PCTs in the county to ensure there was enough spare capacity to handle almost any eventuality. ?After detailed evaluation of the number of calls received, it has become clear that fewer on-call GPs are in fact required. ?As a result, from April, Devon Doctors has taken the decision to adjust cover on a trial basis. It is likely that GPs from the Exeter or Tiverton area will now be used to cover Okehampton.? He said both these locations had good communications links with Okehampton and patients were ?not expected to notice any change? in the level of overnight GP cover during the three-month trial. ?To ensure the highest possible standards during the trial, an Okehampton-based GP will remain on stand-by at all times,? he said. Mr Pearson reminded the public that, as always, in the event of a medical emergency, patients should call 999 and request an ambulance. North Tawton-based GP John Warre, who has undertaken overnight shifts on many occasions, said he was concerned that ?night medical cover would be spread too thin? following the changes. Dr Warre said: ?The trust?s statistics do show there are peaks and troughs in demand. ?What worries me a little bit, is that they haven?t spent a great deal of time collecting the data. The system has only been operating for a relatively short period. ?If someone is seriously ill in Okehampton at night, the time it will take to get someone to see them is actually going to be quite significant. ?The commonest complaint levied against any doctor is they were too slow to respond. The public have always expected a pretty rapid response, and that counts at night as well as during daytime.? He welcomed the fact the PCT had built in a mechanism for a doctor to be on stand-by in Okehampton in case they were needed on a particularly busy night. But Dr Warre said the situation was exacerbated by the timing of the announcement that there would no longer be front-line ambulance cover based in Okehampton for four hours overnight. The Times last week revealed that Okehampton Ambulance crews? 24-hour service in the town was to be replaced by new shift patterns leaving no front-line ambulance cover in the town between the hours of 2am and 6am. Devon County Councilor for Okehampton Cllr Christine Marsh expressed alarm at news of the proposed cut backs. ?It is horrendous. The cuts in ambulance and hospital cover represent yet another cut for rural services and will put people?s lives and health at risk,? she said. Last month, the British Medical Association published a report which found patients living in rural areas were not getting the same quality of service as those living in towns.
