Press Release
October 02, 2009
A market leading out-of-hours healthcare organisation has underlined its commitment to raising standards above the Government’s National Quality Requirements.
Urgent Health UK says that its main objective is to minimize risk and provide patients with the best possible experience of its services.
The not-for-profit organisation already commissions the Devon & Cornwall NHS Audit Consortium to benchmark its members’ services on risk management, auditing of clinical work and compliance with Standards for Better Health – the standards which all NHS and NHS contracted organisations should adhere to - in addition to the Government’s Quality Requirements.
Urgent Health UK’s pledge comes in response to the interim statement from the Care Quality Commission on its enquiry into healthcare provider Take Care Now and the importance of effectively monitoring out-of-hours services.
Medical Director, Dr Simon Abrams said: “Our aim is to be amongst the very best performers nationally for the safety and quality of our services.
“Our organisations have always recognised the value of an effective commissioner provider relationship built on principles of commonality of purpose – putting the patient first - and we believe in effective auditing and transparent reporting.”
Urgent Health UK is made up of out-of-hours healthcare providers covering a population of over nine million people from the South East to the North West of England.
All members are non-profit making organisations which are keen to implement further lessons learn from the Care Quality Commission’s report.
Dr Abrams said: “It is important for commissioners and providers to accept mutual responsibility when addressing challenges such as those raised by the enquiry. This is an opportunity for PCTs and OOH organisations to demonstrate that commissioning work.”
Chair of local out of hours provider Shropdoc Dr. Russell Muirhead said “A major reason for joining Urgent Health UK was the emphasis on providing safe and quality services. We cover a population of 600,000 from towns to very rural areas with few services. We have 150,000 patient contacts a year so we take our responsibilities to our patients very seriously.
Shropdoc is still a local GP Co-operative and all its’ members are GP’s, local to the area,”
Ends.
Notes for editors
Facts about UHUK
Member Organisations
Name Area Covered
• Bardoc South East Lancashire
• Barndoc North London
• Devon Doctors Devon & Merseyside
• ELMS East Lancashire
• Herts Urgent Care Hertfordshire
• Mastercall Stockport, S. Manchester
• Shropdoc Shropshire & Powys
• Seldoc South East London
• South East Health South East England
• UC24 Liverpool area
Size
• Together we form the largest social enterprise organisation in the market;
- 16% market share in England & Wales
- £77M turnover
- Serving over 9 million people
- Commissioned by 27 PCTs
Directors
- Dr Mark Reynolds (MBE) Chairman
- Dr John Horrocks Chief Executive
- Dr Simon Abrams Medical Director
- Colin Strachan Finance Director
What is a ‘Social Enterprise’?
The government defines social enterprises as businesses with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners.