General Practice (GP) Out of Hours Service

As the organisation responsible for planning and buying your healthcare services, we are about to decide who will provide the GP Out of Hours Service for a period of up to five years.

The GP Out of Hours Service provides urgent medical care outside of General Practice core hours. As part of NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin’s (NHS STW’s) commissioning responsibilities, and in line with its statutory and legal duties, there is now a need to re-procure the service.

To inform this procurement process, a county-wide engagement exercise was launched asking residents to share their views on the service and how improvements can be made.

To help inform our procurement process, we asked you:

• What three things are most important to you when using the out of hours service? 
• What would you say works well?
• What do you think is missing or could be improved?

In response, nearly 600 surveys were completed from a wide range of the county’s residents, and a focus group session was also held to explore some of the feedback in more detail.

All insight gathered has been considered in developing the final service specification and is recorded within the following engagement report.

Following this, a competitive process is now underway to understand what potential providers can offer and how well they can meet the needs of our patients and residents.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to speak to us and share feedback, views and ideas. Please click here to read the latest frequently asked questions (FAQs).