THE HEAD of Cornwall's out-of-hours GP service has refuted claims it is understaffed and struggling to meet patient demand.

In the first ever face-to-face meeting with the West Briton, Serco's regional director Karl Cole said he wanted to put the record straight and explain how the service operated.

It follows allegations from an anonymous member of staff that its clinicians were working under "terrible" conditions with "dangerously low levels" of staff cover.

"During house calls doctors can typically see around 15 patients, driving hundreds of miles. They need more GPs and they need to listen to their staff," the worker claimed.

Concerns have also been voiced by NHS nurses working at Serco's out-of-hours clinics.

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) regional officer Sue Matthews said: "RCN members have reported their concerns about the ability of Serco to meet demand for patients attending clinics and for cars to get to patients."

Mr Cole said full cover has been maintained, even when GPs report in sick and are unable to work or if there is a problem with a vehicle.

He said it had nine cars, with five on duty with a driver to ferry doctors during home visits.

"We have a rota of doctors we can call on when there are staff shortages. Doctors can be very busy, but every patient is seen," he added.

From its nerve centre at Cudmore House at Treliske, Truro, Serco co-ordinates the out-of-hours service employing 141 GPS – six permanent, the rest self-employed – the majority working in their local areas.

During peak hours it has 20 GPs on duty with a maximum of seven working overnight, joined by ten triage clinicians and 13 call handlers.

"We have to staff the service to the worst case scenario. As a business we are probably over-staffed," said Mr Cole, who added it was well able to "manage the peaks and troughs" of patient demand.

"We rely on five years of data to guide our service demand. On Christmas Eve we received 40 per cent of our calls within one hour, mainly because people didn't want to be sick on Christmas Day."

Keen to allay any patient fears, Mr Cole, said its staff worked "exceptionally hard" and supported the service.

He also said its move to reduce the number of nurses and employ more telephone operatives at its call centre at Treliske was not a cost-cutting exercise but in the patients' best interests.