Primary Care Trust
Central Derby PCT
NHS Derby City, the local primary care trust (PCT) for Derby, is responsible for health care across the whole city. At present, NHS Derby City serves around 280,000 people registered with over 30 GP practices in the city, and directly employs over 1,400 staff.
The job of the PCT is to make sure that the right health services and support are available for the people of Derby.
The challenge
A Government shake-up of GPs contract arrangements resulted in family doctors opting out of working between 6.30pm and 8am on Mondays to Fridays, weekends and bank holidays since December 2004. Consequently, this has necessitated a highly trained substitute service to provide the required level of care.
The solution
The University of Derby teamed up with health chiefs to offer vital training for nurses and paramedics set to front the area's out-of-hours medical service.
University of Derby Corporate worked with the Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), in Southern Derbyshire to meet the expected demand by facilitating the training of the nurses and paramedics to practitioner level to enable them to prescribe drugs and treat a vast range of injuries and illnesses.
The training is delivered through two courses developed in partnership with the PCTs. These are a new one year full-time BSc (Hons) in Emergency Practice and a three year MSc in Primary Care Studies featuring work-based training with day release to study.
The outcome
Central Derby Primary Care Trust Out-Of-Hours Project Manager Andy Magee said:
" We are pleased to be working with the University and the training opportunities being provided.
Derby University's Primary Care course is one of just six across the country and has been validated by the Royal College of Nursing to offer Nurse Practitioner status to graduates from the course.
This initiative allows people the opportunity to enter at undergraduate diploma level."
