Patients across Billericay and Wickford will be able to take advantage of a new out-of-hours medical care service being launched next week.
The new provisions, according to the Billericay, Brentwood and Wickford Primary Care Trust (PCT), will allow patients access to a healthcare professional at any time of the day or night.
Run by the Essex Ambulance Service, the service will either offer healthcare advice over the phone similar to that given by the NHS Direct service, arrange a home visit by a GP or refer the caller to the nearest Primary Care Centre for emergency treatment.
To access the out-of-hours help, patients can phone their own doctor's surgery, which will then be automatically redirected to the service.
The new service, launched after PCTs took over the contract to manage out-of-hours care from GPs earlier this year, will be launched on Friday, October 1.
A similar service, based at a new centre at Southend Hospital's Accident and Emergency department, is also set to start in Southend and Castle Point on January 1, 2005.
Anyone wanting further information about the changes can contact Gina Pryor, Essex Ambulance Service patient advice and liaison service coordinator on 0800 028 3021.
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