Out of hours GP service - 0845 600 10 13
This service is for urgent medical situations, if you, or a member of your family become ill and you are concerned. It is not for routine enquiries, for example, booking an appointment with your GP, repeat prescriptions, or collecting any test results.
If you become unwell and need medical help after your GP surgery has closed you can call the Dorset Emergency Care Service on 0845 600 10 13.
If you believe you, or a member of your family, is experiencing a life-threatening condition if you don’t get medical help immediately, call 999 and ask for an ambulance.
If your medical problem is not urgent, please telephone your own GP surgery when it is next open or call NHS Direct on 0845 46 47 for advice.
When you ring the Dorset Emergency Care Service, your call will go to the call centre in St Leonard’s. A trained member of staff will answer the phone and take your details. They will contact a doctor who will ring you back to ask you more about the problem and, together, will decide the best option for you.
Visit a treatment centre
After you have spoken with someone over the phone, it may be decided you need to visit a local centre to receive medical treatment. There may be a need for further testing or specific care.
A doctor, nurse or emergency care practictioner will be available at the centre.
Home visits
You may be told you need a home visit by a doctor, a nurse or an emergency care practitioner. This will depend upon the seriousness of your condition. You will be visited as quickly as possible and your visit will be placed in order of priority according to the seriousness of other patients needing care.
If staff at the call centre, or the doctor, feels that your medical problem is an emergency, they will call 999 on your behalf and an emergency ambulance will come to you.
The out-of-hours service is provided by a range of trained healthcare professionals, for example, nurses and emergency care practitioners, as well as doctors.
Emergency care practitioners are experienced paramedics who have undertaken additional intensive training to be able to provide a wider range of treatments to patients in their own home and so help to prevent admission to the emergency department (A&E).
