ABSTRACT
Whilst daytime home visits had been in steady decline nationally, there was lots of evidence in the 1980s and early 1990s that night visits, whilst much fewer by comparison, were steadily increasing. The second half of the 1990s saw the widespread introduction of GP cooperatives to undertake night and other out-of-hours cover. These co-ops typically offer patients a mixture of telephone advice, home visits and consultations at the co-op’s own surgery. What effect has this had on how night and other out-of hours visit requests are dealt with?
