About Us

Devon Doctors is part of the NHS ‘family’ and is a not for profit organisation.  We manage the out of hours GP contract on behalf of Devon practices and took nearly 500,000 calls in 2006.  The origins of Devon Doctors date back to 1996, when some of the GPs from across Devon came together to form Devon Doctors on Call, a business which would organise their out of hours responsibility and share the out of hours sessions among colleagues from the local area.

On 1st October 2004, the Primary Care Trusts in Devon took over responsibility from GPs for out of hours care and since then have commissioned Devon Doctors, as it is now known, to provide the out of hours service.

The biggest implication of the 2004 change was that GPs have been able to 'opt out' of out of hours work. However, over two thirds of those working in the county continue to undertake out of hours work for us which means Devon patients still receive a high level of care and treatment from local clinicians.

Devon Doctors, which directly employs around 300 staff, was recognised as one of the leading out of hours providers nationally in the national independent Audit Commission report of 2006.