What the projected costs are of out-of-hours medical cover and what any projected shortfalls in funding of the service are that each NHS bo…

These figures will not be availableuntil NHS boards have completed their detailed plans for out-of-hours service provision.Boards have this work well in hand and are currently developing and refining theirmodelling. A key element in this work is determining the number of GPs who wishto transfer their responsibility for out-of-hours service provision, informationwhich boards are currently finalising in discussion with GPs in their area.
Practices opting to transfertheir out-of-hours responsibility to NHS boards will surrender 6% of their globalsum to reflect the reduced workload and responsibility. These funds will be availableto boards to meet the costs of service provision. In addition the out-of-hours developmentfund will be increased from the existing level of £6.3 million to £10 million in2005-06 to help deliver the new arrangements.
A national working group comprisedof key stakeholders, including NHS boards, GP out-of-hours co-operatives, NHS 24and the Scottish Ambulance Service is established to support NHS boards in theirplanning and to develop a range of possible alternative models and arrangementsfor providing out of hours services which local NHS systems can adapt to their localneeds.