February's social enterprise of the month

​No one can deny these are trying times - Brexit, austerity, fake news and alternative facts – so it’s important to focus on the positive whenever possible. This month we have looked close to home and have chosen to shine a light on…

Who are they?

Devon Doctors is a Social Enterprise providing high quality NHS services (which are still free at the point of contact) and putting patients and stakeholders (GPs themselves) at the heart of their work. They have no shareholders and any profit is put back into the service to benefit patients. Devon Doctors are owned by every GP practice in Devon. They vote for GPs to represent their area on the board of directors and describe themselves as ‘part of the NHS family’.

Where are they?

Devon Doctors are commissioned by NHS Torbay, NHS Plymouth and Torbay Care Trust. 

What do they do? 

Devon Doctors provide the urgent out-of-hours service in Devon. They are an expanding organisation and have subsidiaries which provide other healthcare services, including:

• Out-of-hours dental care in Devon
• Acute care GP service in Devon and Somerset
• GP health centres in Torquay, Plymouth, Widnes and Warrington
• Prison healthcare in Devon, sub-commissioned by Devon Partnership Trust.

Why do we like them?

As owners of the organisation, Devon GP practices have a direct influence over the service they provide. This means better continuity between in-hours and out-of-hours primary care. They also have a strong rota of local GPs who choose to work out-of-hours for the service.

Devon Doctors has been a regular fixture in top 10 nationwide providers over the course of the past decade:

• They consistently achieve all of the Department of Health quality standards - in some areas they exceed these standards
• In 2012 the Primary Care Foundation rated Devon Doctor's out-of-hours service as one of the best in England
• In 2008 the Healthcare Commission investigation into urgent care services gave Devon Doctors the best scores in the country 
• In 2006 the National Audit Office highlighted their out-of-hours service as an example of good practice, placing it within the top 10% of services nationally.

Devon Doctors continue to provide high quality health services in a time of funding cuts and horror stories – professionals just doing what they do to look after their communities, whenever they're needed.