Our Performance
Facts and figures
We took nearly 300,000 calls from patients in 2006. 97% of those were answered within 60 seconds. Those calls resulted in a number of actions including some of the following highlights:
| 140,260 | patients received telephone advice from a GP |
| 37,408 | patients received a home visit by a GP |
| 77,377 | patients were seen by a GP at a Treatment Centre |
| 17,943 | referrals to the District Nursing service |
| 13,719 | messages taken and passed on behalf of NHS services |
| 1,718 | patients received nurse advice consultations |
| 14,098 | patients received dental advice |
| 3,484 | patients seen by a nurse in a Treatment Centre |
| 349 | patients were visited by a paramedic |
| 585 | patients received advice from a mental health professional |
Quality Standards
As a provider of out of hours services, we have to achieve the Quality Requirements set by the Department of Health (these can also be found at www.out-of-hours.info).
Devon Doctors continues to successfully achieve all of the standards and remains one of the best out of hours service providers in the country.
Devon Doctors has a dedicated Clinical Governance Manager, who works closely with the Chief Executive and Medical Director on all clinical and operational quality matters. Our Complaints Policy is consistent with the NHS procedures. We also have an active significant event audit and risk management procedure as well as actively seeking feedback from our patients by using randomised patient satisfaction questionnaires.
What do the Devon GPs think of our service?
Devon Doctors is owned by all the 176 practices in the county and it’s important that we know what they think of the service we provide on their behalf. Around two thirds of Devon’s GPs work out of hours shifts for Devon Doctors. In 2006, we asked all the practices in Devon what they thought of our service and they responded as follows:
- 83% of practices said our service was ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’
- 80% of practices said it was ‘essential’ or ‘very important’ for Devon Doctors to continue to provide their out of hours GP cover
- 79% of practices said the quality of the GPs out of hours was ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’
- 94% of practices wanted to retain ownership of the out of hours cover through Devon Doctors
What our patients think of our services
We send out 50 questionnaires each month to a random selection of patients. In 2006, 94% of responses we received were positive.
A selection of plaudits received from patients:
"I hadn't thought of using Devon Doctors before but I thought the service was excellent and I would certainly use it again and recommend it to friends"
"My wife and I would like to thank the out of hours doctors who kindly helped with my migraine last weekend. You show such kindness ….very much appreciated. Thanks again"
Patient wrote a letter to thank a duty doctor for contacting the paramedics so quickly and for the subsequent telephone enquiry. She had a pulmonary embolism but is now at home and having daily treatment.
Card received which thanked the doctor for visiting and administering an injection: "It is just to thank you so very much for coming out last Monday night to see me. I did feel so dreadfully ill, and I awoke in the early morning feeling a great deal better. Thank you so much for your kindness and care, it was so much appreciated."
"I would like to thank the health professional who treated me. She listened to me and spoke to me in plain English. She was very friendly and approachable"
Patient called to say thank you, she ‘could not have got through the day without us’.
Patient's daughter rang to say thank you and what an excellent service.
Patient wanted to say thank you for the way he was treated by the staff here and how kind the doctor was. He was very happy with our service.
Patient's wife phoned to thank Devon Doctors, especially the doctor who visited. He congratulated Devon Doctors on our efficiency.
