"Is there a average response time for attending to a patient,after contact has been made with NHS 24?"

Dear Shine On

Thank you for providing feedback via the Patient Opinion Website. I am very sorry to learn that your father required to wait a considerable time for a GP to attend, following a request for a home visit to be undertaken. I note that your feedback is headed 'is there an average response time for attending to a patient after contact has been made with NHS 24'. I do hope the information below is helpful.

Calls to NHS 24 are managed and prioritised on the symptoms being displayed by a patient. NHS 24 would welcome the opportunity of looking further at your father's case to establish where the delay was incurred, and I would be very pleased to take this forward for you.

To assist your understanding of how NHS 24 integrates with the local Health Boards, it may be helpful if I explain that, following assessment of a patient's symptoms by an NHS 24 Nurse Practitioner, if appropriate, a request may be made for a patient to receive a home visit from a local NHS Out of Hours GP. NHS 24 passes this request to the patient's local Health Board and the local Health Board are then responsible for prioritising and progressing the home visit. NHS 24 requests home visits within a 1, 2 or 4 hour timeframe, depending on the patient's symptoms and circumstances. The attending GP is not employed by NHS 24 and is an employee of the local Health Board.

Clearly there was a delay in your father's care, and NHS 24 and the local Health Board would be keen to understand what caused this. In the first instance, NHS 24 is keen to explore your concern further and I would be pleased if you could contact me directly on 0141 337 4582 or email. Patient.affairs@nhs24.scot.nhs.uk

I look forward to hearing from you.

With kind regards

Shona Lawrence

Patient Affairs Manager

NHS 24

0141 337 4582