Out of hours blunders Mistakes up 25pc in a year

The number of major blunders reported by GP out-of-hours services has risen by a quarter, with patients dying after long waits to see a doctor, or after a visit where fatal symptoms were missed, a Pulse magazine investigation has found. Senior doctors said the services were no longer able to operate safely, with rising pressures increasing the risk that patients could be on the end of a wrong “judgment call”. Freedom of Information disclosures from GP out-of-hours providers revealed 71 serious incidents in the first nine months of 2017 – even before winter pressures come into play – compared with 76 during the whole of 2016.