East Kent NHS 111 and out of hours services

On 1 December 2017 we took over the provision of the NHS 111 and GP-led out of hours services in east Kent.

We are a local not for profit, gold-mark accredited social enterprise with extensive experience of providing out of hours GP led services and NHS 111, and took over the contract from Primecare, at the beginning of December.

NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Calls are free from landlines and mobile phones. Patients who use the service will be put through to a team of highly trained advisers, supported by healthcare professionals, to have their symptoms assessed.

They will be given the healthcare advice they need or directed to the local service that can help them best. Patients who are assessed by 111 as urgently needing to see a GP when their practice is closed will be referred to the out of hours GP service.

Andrew Catto, our Chief Medical Officer, said: 'We are completely committed to providing patients with a safe and efficient service when they need us, and supporting those staff from Primecare who have transferred to our organisation. We will be working closely with the CCGs and all other healthcare providers across east Kent to ensure they receive a good and safe service.'

We will run the 111 service until April 2019 and the out of hours contract until December 2019.

The new service has been commissioned by the four east Kent clinical commissioning groups, which are: NHS Ashford Clinical Commissioning Group, NHS Canterbury and Coastal Clinical Commissioning Group, NHS South Kent Coast Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS Thanet Clinical Commissioning Group. NHS Canterbury and Coastal CCG is the lead for this contract.

The CCGs have awarded the interim contract to ensure continuity of the service in the short term, while also preparing to procure the substantive replacement service.

Primecare opted to exercise its right to serve an accelerated notice period of three months and this is not sufficient time to conduct a competitive procurement of a replacement service, with due regard to its complexity and safety critical aspects.

We are an experienced provider of both NHS 111 and out of hours services and will be working hard to provide the best service possible to patients in the area.