Out of hours medical services by Serco are improving. But they are not enough to get back to the same levels provided by Kernow Doc, says Sarah Newton, prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate for Truro and Falmouth.

On Tuesday the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee (HASCOSC) will receive a report from Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust (CIOSPCT).

The report is largely supportive of the efforts made by SERCO to tackle the widespread issues faced by the people of Cornwall when trying to access out of hours GP services. Representatives of the PCT will ask for the support of the committee to continue to work with SERCO.

The report says: 1. CIOSPCT is extremely encouraged by the improvements made by Serco to Kernow Urgent care Services.

2. The performance of the service against the National Quality Requirements is now at a level that exceeds that being delivered in many areas across the country and is still continuing to improve.

3. Performance management of this service will continue to be rigorous and will involve daily scrutiny of activity and performance data as well as weekly meetings to monitor progress.

4. While not complacent, the PCT is confident that Serco will continue to improve the service as agreed. The PCT asks that the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HASCOSC) support the continued improvement of this service.

But Mrs Newton said; "The targets set by the PCT and the performance indicators mentioned in the report are not providing us with a complete picture of what is happening with this vital service. While the report states that the 'service improvement plans are comprehensive and robust and are being co-ordinated with those of other providers in the county' they have not taken into consideration the huge impact on Treliske. At the same time the nurses and doctors at Treliske are trying to deliver good patient care and dealing with ward closures and staff cuts, they are receiving increased levels of referrals to the hospital, often quite unnecessarily.

"While the report states that more local GPs are opting to be employed by SERCO, they are still the minority. There are still many foreign trained doctors who have not received the same training and have the same level of experience as our local GPs. As a result, local people and GPs still lack confidence in the service provided by SERCO. Is it any wonder that if a poorly patient visits their GP surgery on a Friday afternoon, they dare not risk sending them home over the weekend with some medicine or advise to monitor the symptoms and call the out of service if the symptoms persist. This is especially true if the patient is a child.

"Worried parents are also just arriving at Treliske. This has led to increased and unnecessary work for the hard pressed staff of Treliske. There is no mention in the report of the numbers of unnecessary referrals from GPs to Treliske. It is very worrying for parents to be referred to hospital and despite the best efforts of staff, as a result of the lack of adequate funding at Treliske, waiting times can be long."