County chiefs are set to scrutinise out-of-hours GP care in Suffolk after a report labelled it inadequate.

SUFFOLK: County chiefs are set to scrutinise out-of-hours GP care in Suffolk after a report labelled it “inadequate”.

Residents are being invited to contact their councillors with any concerns they have about GP cover, including examples of good or bad care, ahead of the Suffolk County Council's Health Scrutiny Committee meeting on November 11.

The public can also write to the county's Health Scrutiny chairman at Endeavour House before the end of October.

The committee, which looks at the planning provision and operation of health services across Suffolk, will be discussing the service, which has recently been criticised for some failings.

An official report released by The Care Quality Commission found a number of areas of concern about the way private firm Take Care Now (TCN), which provides out-of-hours service in Suffolk, is run.

It criticised TCN for failing to fill doctors' shifts and over its policy for dispensing medicine.

The report added that the five primary care trusts which commission TCN services, including NHS Suffolk, were not properly monitoring out-of-hours performance and risk, and failing to spot potential problems or poor care.

Those wanting to make their views known should either contact their councillor or write to the chairman of the committee, David Yorke-Edwards, at Endeavour House, 8 Russell Road, Ipswich, IP1 2BX.

Have you had a bad experience of out-of-hours GP care? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.