By Ian Quinn
Private firms and not-for-profit groups run by local GPs have already begun vying to run the new 111 urgent care number, as the Government prepares to roll the scheme out across England.
Harmoni is the first private company to reveal it has thrown its hat into the ring after the Government said it planned to try to attract potential new providers, with previous pilots having been run by the ambulance service and NHS Direct.
And in Birmingham, the BADGER out-of-hours group has also expressed an official interest in running the number, claiming the move would keep the service in the hands of GPs.
The stakes could be high for out-of-hours groups who are increasingly keen to reinvent themselves as urgent care providers on the back of the Government's plans to put GP consortia in charge of commissioning all urgent care services in their areas. Running 111 would give out-of-hours companies a foothold in what otherwise looks an increasingly precarious market.
Harmoni, the UK's biggest out-of-hours provider covering more than 7 million patients, said it believed it had the scale to successfully compete to run 111.
Sales and marketing director Mike Barradell-Smith told Pulse: ‘We are actively exploring areas where we may want to be involved in this process and I'm sure other OOH providers will be.'
Dr Fay Wilson, a GP in Birmingham and founder of BADGER, said: ‘We have signed an expression of interest and I think it makes absolute sense.'
However, she said SHAs had been slow to publicise the DH directive to encourage potential providers, adding: ‘It seems almost as if out-of-hours providers have been forgotten.'
Private firms bid for 111 contracts
