Our practice is part of NYED, North Yorkshire Emergency Doctors
Co-op; we cover a huge area and triage calls for an even larger
area. When on it is really busy, but we are no longer on call very
often. (5 duties this quarter!!for me) Triageing for practices that
may be 60 miles away is difficult but it does mean that we filter
the calls for those rural GP's and hopefully only send them the
more realistic calls. It is difficult to assess patients who live
in an area that you know nothing about but not impossible. The patient
calls a local call rate number so they can be quite a way away, (some
of our callers are as far south as the Wash or with post codes in
Peterborough and as far north as the Dales and fringes of the Lakes.)
The call service is efficient, monitored and so far seems to be taking some
of the burden of the rural members.
There are also shifts on offer in the rural centres, anything from
300-500 UKP for a weekend day/night shift. I'm not sure of the takeup of
these.
The Co-op has revolutionised our lives locally and we could never go
back. North Yorkshire is England's largest rural county.
Locums are pretty thin on the ground here also. Perhaps job swapping
would be a way of getting a break without incurring costs?
--
Allan Harris, GP, Haxby, York YO3 3PH
tel 01904-768666
work 01904-760125, fax 750168
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