Frendoc - Providing Patient Care

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Out of hours contract

At its last board meeting, Bristol Primary Care Trust (PCT) confirmed its decision to award the contract for out of hours care to Frendoc from 1 November. A new out-of-hours facility is being set up at a local GP practice in Southmead to house the expanding service.

In December 2007 the two local organisations providing out of hours services, Brisdoc and Frendoc, were invited to tender to provide an out of hours service for residents in the north of the city. They were both providing high quality care.

The tender process required the two bidders to submit detailed information. On the basis of their submissions, Frendoc was chosen as the ‘preferred bidder.’ As part of the usual process in awarding a contract, the PCT then held detailed discussions with and carried out an analysis of Frendoc and its proposals.

This ‘due diligence’ review was particularly thorough, in order to take into account a number of concerns raised by some GPs. The review included a comparison with other out of hours providers. Frendoc has already addressed concerns, such as GP registrar training.

The PCT’s Professional Executive Committee Chair Dr Will Warin said: “The board is satisfied that the comprehensive review clearly shows that Frendoc will be able to provide an expanded, high quality out of hours service.”

The extended contract means Frendoc’s out of hours service will cover 165,000 people in the Bristol area, and a total of 411,000 overall.

Frendoc has released statistics on how patients view its performance - average scores for 2008 have all been above four-star, with good and excellent standards achieved. The patient satisfaction surveys give a one-to-five-star rating. If standards fall below four, remedial measures are instigated.