URGENT OUT of HOURS

Telephone advice can be obtained from NHS Direct, telephone no 0845 4647.

In case of an urgent medical problem, a doctor can be contacted at any time by telephoning St Albans (01727) 855500 - the usual surgery number. A recorded message will tell you how to contact the emergency doctor.

From 6.30pm until 8.00am, and all day Saturday and Sunday, emergency cover is provided by St Albans and Region Doctor On Call (STARDOC 0845 6033 789 ) a rota of local general practitioners.

You may be given advice on the telephone, or if you need to see the doctor, you will be asked, if at all possible, to go to the out of hours emergency centre. We would ask you to co-operate with this whenever you can, so that the doctor is able to visit quickly at home those who are seriously ill and unable to be moved.

 
NHSD logo

Out of Hours Arrangements

Or

‘Think twice before going to A/E’

 

Until April 2004 all GPs were responsible for patients on their list for 24 hours a day. Most of us took part in rotas, allowing us to have time off, and some paid other doctors to do all or part of their “on call”, but we were still responsible for our own arrangements.

 

Since April 2004, practices have been allowed to opt out of 24 hour responsibility and the PCT are now obliged to make provision for urgent needs between 6:30pm and 8:00am, and all day on Saturday and Sunday. In St Albans and Harpenden the existing co-operative, STARDOC (St Albans and region Doctors on Call), were awarded the contract. Apart from the fact that STARDOC now covers Saturday mornings, instead of individual practices, the service still looks very similar to that provided over the previous few years. More than forty local GPs have signed contracts to work shifts, and we are well aware that it can be very frightening to become ill at night or at a weekend.

 

Any calls made during the ‘out of hours’ period are directed to a dedicated number at NHSD (01234 326099). Telephone advice is available from a nurse where appropriate, and most other calls are forwarded to STARDOC which is based in the Minor Injuries Unit at St Albans City Hospital. An ambulance is despatched to any patients deemed to have a life-threatening condition.

 

Duty doctors then phone patients back and either give phone advice, invite patients to attend the centre, or arrange a home visit for genuinely housebound people. In this way, apart from serious accidents, there are very few patients who need to make the journey to A/E at Hemel Hempstead or Welwyn Garden City. If hospital admission is needed this can be arranged directly to the correct speciality.

 

We do not advise patients to come directly to the centre in MIU – there are times when shifts are manned by one doctor, who may be on a home visit. If MIU is closed, there will be no staff at the centre and the journey will be wasted, so it is important to phone first. However, in general, our overall waiting time is much less than a visit to A/E.