Action plan for GP out-of-hours issues in north Wales

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board has published a "full response and action plan"

Health bosses in north Wales have published an action plan in a bid to improve a GP out-of-hours service following a critical report.

The report, leaked to BBC Wales, revealed the service was understaffed and had a number of management issues.

In response, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said it plans to tackle unfilled shifts and have a better-structured management on-call rota.

It comes after assembly members queried how the issues would be addressed.

The initial leaked report, conducted by a team of consultants in March, included responses from 117 staff - 84% of which said they felt the service was "not safe" at times.

The health board has since published a series of recommendations detailing how it will tackle the issues raised, with a number of them already carried out.

They include:

• Staff shortages - Improve unfilled shifts and late unavailability of staff due to sickness. Consider appointing an urgent standby clinician and implement a better-structured management on-call rota

• Insufficient clinical leadership - Consider appointing a lead nurse to each division as well as a GP adviser

• Improve staff engagement - Hold regular, paid for, divisional team meetings, online staff surveys and a staff newsletter

• Performance - Three divisions will monitor performance, service quality and financial performance

The plan will go before a health board committee on Tuesday and the full board next month.