Health bosses deny claims there is just one GP on-call in Shropshire overnight

The Daily Mail has reported that the doctor on-call is solely responsible for an area of 1,346 square miles and 500,000 patients.

It said 10 years ago, eight GPs shared the workload in Shropshire and that the situation is blamed on lack of cash and a shortage of GPs prepared to carry out unsocial hours.

The service, which comes under the Shropshire Integrated Urgent Care Model, is commissioned by Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin CCGs, and provided by a delivery partnership between Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust and Shropshire Doctors Co-operative.

A spokesman for the four organisations said there is at least two GPs scheduled to be on duty overnight.

He said: “We would like to reassure patients who may have been worried by an article about out-of-hours cover in the Daily Mail.

“Out-of-hours cover in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Powys is provided by a team that includes GPs and Urgent Care Practitioners (UCPs). UCPs are experienced nurses or paramedics. They are highly skilled and able to carry out a wide variety of tasks, such as delivering pain relief. They are always in-contact with a GP, and there are at least two GPs scheduled to be on duty overnight.

“Patients also have 24-hour access to NHS111 where trained call handlers can transfer calls to a GP or nurse if necessary, while GP appointments are bookable through the GP extended access service in the evening Monday to Friday, at the weekend and on Bank Holidays."

The Daily Mail claimed dying cancer patients have been left in agony because there was no GP available to administer morphine.

It also suggested that some nights there is no GP cover at all – a claim vehemently disputed by Shropdoc.

The newspaper submitted a Freedom of Information request to a number of health trusts and also revealed that in Milton Keynes, Bucks, there is one GP overnight for 290,000 patients, Cornwall has three GPs for 575,000 and Oldham has one for 230,000.