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Frendoc announce increased Training for GP registrars

Monday 21st July

Statement re. online petition against Bristol PCT’s decision to award out of hours contract to Frendoc

Rich Wootten, General Manager of Frendoc today issued the following statement:

"Frendoc is a not for profit out of hours service, owned and run by local GPs, and patient safety is our primary concern.

Frendoc has been identified as the preferred provider for the whole of the North and East Bristol GP out of hours service, this represents an extension to the overnight service we already run in North Bristol.

An online petition against Bristol PCT’s decision to award the out of hours contract to our organisation has been created. Frendoc would like to publicly address concerns raised by the petition regarding the level of out of hours training we provide.

In the past, local trainee GPs have gained their out of hours training by working at an out of hours clinic whilst their trainer may frequently supervise them remotely – ie, by telephone. We were concerned at this level of supervision, which we deem to be inadequate.

Frendoc firmly believes that trainee GPs should receive out of hours supervision and support by a GP trainer who works alongside them, rather than remotely. To this end, we developed a model two years ago that prioritises patient safety.

All trainee GPs that work in our service receive out of hours training with a trainer on site. In addition, the training service runs separately but alongside our normal out of hours provision. We always have fully qualified GPs at the out of hours clinic which deliver the majority of the patient care.

Ours is a quality training system, not a quick fix. We firmly believe that our system is the most beneficial for patients, trainee GPs and their trainers.

As an organisation, we are committed to quality training for all Frendoc staff, we’re in the process of attaining Investors in People status and already have ISO9001 quality systems accreditation in place.

We believe the issues raised by the petition are entirely groundless and we welcome independent scrutiny of our services to prove otherwise."

For more information please contact Samantha Brown at Corixa Communications on 0117 9493394 / 07935 268427 or by emailing samantha.brown@corixa.co.uk.

Please note, requests for interview can only be accommodated between Tuesday 22nd July and Wednesday 23rd July inclusive.