Herts Urgent Care is a Community Benefit Society providing healthcare during the out-of-hours period to the people of Hertfordshire.
Herts Urgent Care was formed in 2007 by the merger of:
Herts Out-of-Hours Services (HOOHS, formerly HEMS)
HOOHS has been providing GP out-of-hours healthcare to the population of South East Herts since 1997, and was formed by a group of local GPs as a way to share the responsibility for providing out-of-hours services for practices in the area. When it became possible for GPs to opt out of providing out-of-hours care directly, HOOHS provided an alternative.
STARDOC
STARDOC was formed in a similar fashion in 1997 and has been providing out-of-hours cover to St Albans and Harpenden ever since.
The decision to merge the two services was taken in order to strengthen the ability to provide a high quality patient-focused service across the whole of Hertfordshire and ensure that the provision of vital urgent care services did not pass to the commercial sector.
After being awarded the contract to manage the East and North Herts PCT-provided service in December 2007, Herts Urgent Care became responsible for providing out-of-hours healthcare to over 750,000 people.
Since 1st September 2008 Herts Urgent Care has been responsible for providing GP out-of-hours cover to the whole of Hertfordshire.
Herts Urgent Care is dedicated to providing a high quality, local urgent care service, which really provides what the people of Hertfordshire want. We believe one of the best ways to achieve this is to employ local staff – call-handlers, receptionists, drivers, nurses and GPs – and to listen to their views on how the service should be provided and managed. We also encourage local people and organisations to become involved, by becoming Members of the Community Benefit Society. This allows local people to have their say in the co-ordination of the service, through regular meetings with the management team.
Herts Urgent Care is a founder member of Urgent Health UK Ltd. This is an organisation set up to promote the Social Enterprise business model in Out of Hours and Urgent Care services.