NHS Gloucestershire CCG’s Governing Body has confirmed that following a comprehensive evaluation, it has selected South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) as the preferred provider for the primary care Out of Hours service in the county.
The news follows the end of a procurement process that got underway in March with the CCG seeking ‘continuous improvement’ in urgent out of hours services.
Accountable Officer, Mary Hutton said:
“We are pleased to have reached this stage and are keen to work with SWASFT to ensure high quality, safe and timely out of hours services to patients in to the future.
We know from patients that what they really want is joined up care and treatment with the best possible co-ordination between different parts of the service. This includes strong links between community services and the large hospitals.
SWASFT already provides part of the out of hours service in Gloucestershire, is the county’s 999 provider and has a strong partnership relationship with the Gloucestershire GP provider company in addition to other community and hospital services.
We recognise that local out of hours services have been well supported over the years by local GPs and we are confident that this will continue as part of this contract award.”