Fife town set to lose out of hours GP service

Health bosses will meet this week to decide the outcome of  out of hours (OOH) GP provision.

On the table is a proposal that would see Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline retain full out of hours provision, St Andrews have limited provision and the service removed from Glenrothes entirely.

The OOH service was suspended in Glenrothes, St Andrews and Dunfermline in April 2018 after concerns were raised over the lack of staff.

Decisions on the future of the service have been postponed three times over the last year while compromises were made.

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The service only provides GP access for conditions not serious enough for accident and emergency, but too urgent to wait until morning.

Accident and emergency services are not affected by this decision.

On Friday, the Integrated Joint Board (IJB)  will decide on the future of the service.

The report to the board recommends that three centres remain open – Kirkcaldy, Dunfermline and St Andrews.

Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline will be open in the evenings, overnight, and during weekends, while St Andrews is expected to be open during the morning and evening in the weekends and three to four hours on weekday evenings.

There will be a minimum of two cars available for home visits across the whole of Fife. A new transport policy would also see a taxi service provided for those who couldn’t drive themselves to the care centres when home visits were not available.

The report adds: “The above model will require to be flexible according to demand and capacity (particularly staffing in the future). Whilst a commitment is made to opening these hours, the service may have to modify at short notice, to ensure a clinically safe service.”