GP led consortia known as Portsmouth Health Limited has been named preferred bidder for a new five year contract to run the GP out-of-hours service from this October.
Portsmouth Health Limited (PHL) is working with the independent healthcare provider Care UK to run the service with Southern Health helping the out of hours services integrate with the Southern Health’s NHS services to make referrals run smoothly. The service will cover Portsmouth, Southampton and the south of Hampshire a population of around 1.4 million people.
Dr Tim Wright and Dr Dan Rushen are both local GPs and directors of PHL.
Tim, who will be Medical Director for the new service said, “We are delighted to have won this important bid. This is a really exciting opportunity for GPs to lead the out-of-hours service for a large part of Hampshire. This is a service for Hampshire’s people run by Hampshire GPs.”
PHL is supported by Care UK. Stephen Cass, Regional Director with Care UK said: “Local people will know us as the organisation behind the RSH NHS Treatment Centre in Southampton, St Mary’s NHS Treatment Centre in Portsmouth and as part of the partnership that runs the Guildhall Walk health centre in the City. We also run nursing homes and provide home care services in the area so we already feel part of the local community and are looking forward to helping to deliver this new service”
Sue Harriman Chief Operating Officer for Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are delighted to be working with Portsmouth Health Limited and Care UK to deliver integrated out-of-hours services. There are about one point four million people in the South of Hampshire who will benefit from our partnership. Integrating our NHS services in this way will mean that people get the quality care they need, when and where they need it.”
Press release: 4 July 2012
