Make it better
Reporter: Marina Berry
Date published: 29 February 2012
FAILSWORTH GP David McMaster has taken up a challenge to improve local “urgent care” health services.
He will shake-up accident and emergency, ambulance and out-of-hours services. McMaster, a GP at Quayside Medical Practice, has been appointed as Oldham’s clinical director for urgent care and is now spending time with the services to find out how they work and what staff and patients think about them.
The doctor has already been to the Royal Oldham Hospital’s accident and emergency department and is planning another visit during a busy evening shift.
He plans visits to Oldham’s walk-in service; the out-of-hours GP service “Go To Doc,” Butler Green intermediate care facility in Chadderton and the hospital’s medical assessment unit. He will also spend time with an ambulance crew.
He also plans to shadow patients to get an insight into their experiences of urgent care.
He said: “As a GP I care for patients every day, but it was very interesting to spend time with hospital colleagues and see things from their perspective. It really brought home how clinicians can play a big part in improving urgent care by thinking and working in new and innovative ways.”
He added: “This is the first step to developing the very best urgent care services for local people.”
Mr McMaster is one of a team of clinical directors, each looking after a specific health area in support of Oldham NHS Clinical Commissioning Group, which will be responsible for local health services from April 2013.
