RESIDENTS of Bude and the surrounding area have criticised Serco, after the company relocated the provision of its night time and weekend out of hours GP services.

Serco said it has moved the car and doctor from Stratton to Launceston — around 20 miles away — because of increased usage.

The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust recently awarded a new five year contract to Serco for the delivery of GP out of hours services in Cornwall.

This was reported in the November 3 edition of the 'Post', and the Primary Care Trust (PCT) stated that 'the new contract will deliver improved out of hours access for patients through the appointment-based GP clinics. These clinics, run from ten locations across the county and accessed via the Serco call centre, will co-ordinate their opening times across evenings and weekends so that patients should be within 30 minutes travel time of a GP'

Concerns though have been raised by the North Cornwall Healthwatch group and Cornwall Councillor for Flexbury and Poughill Paula Dolphin in response to this decision, and a public meeting has been announced for early in the new year to discuss it.

For the full report, and a round up of the area news and sport, please see this week's edition of the 'Post'.