Tragedy prompts Brown pledge on out-of-hours care

His declaration follows the tragic case of a mother who died after eight doctors failed to diagnose her condition.

The prime minister in waiting said Penny Campbell's death showed why a turnaround in GP services was needed.

Miss Campbell, 41, died on Easter weekend two years ago of multiple organ failure caused by septicaemia after on-call doctors repeatedly misdiagnosed her condition.

The journalist had developed blood poisoning caused by an infection following a routine injection.

A report from Islington Primary Care Trust found that Camidoc, the North London GPs' co-operative that employed the doctors, had seriously failed their patient.

Camidoc managers yesterday apologised for the failings and promised that lessons would be learned.

But Miss Campbell's partner Angus MacKinnon, father of their eightyear- old son Joseph, warned that another tragedy was possible.

Mr MacKinnon, who is also a journalist, said: "I don't want my son growing up without some positive change.

"The report made the link between the local failings and national system. GPs have to take back responsibility for evening and weekend out-of-hours care."

Traditional cover by family doctors was changed three years ago when doctors were allowed to opt out of late night and weekend care.

That left too few GPs on call and patients were forced to ring 999 or visit casualty departments for routine treatments.

The Chancellor made improving out-of-hours access a key policy for his administration shortly after he was crowned leader earlier this month.

But the damning report into Miss Campbell's death has brought added urgency to the issue.

On a visit to a school in South London yesterday, Mr Brown said: "What I've been talking about is how we can extend the range of facilities for healthcare at the weekends and out of hours.

"So we need more access to doctors, we need walk-in centres, we need local healthcare centres to be more effective, we need NHS Direct to be working.

"And we need pharmacies, interestingly enough, to have more ability to, for example, do blood tests and some of the basic things where you can just walk in off the street and get some of the basic tests done.

"And we need prescriptions to be translated to people, directly to the chemist, in a way that you don't have to queue up at the doctor's for a repeat prescription.

"So in all these areas we need more access for patients. The Health Service has got to be there for people when they need it and we need to do better in the future."

Tory health spokesman Andrew Lansley accused Mr Brown of a U-turn. He said: "It is odd that Gordon Brown should now realise that GP cover needs to be improved.

"Just three years ago he allowed a new GP contract to go ahead, which doubled the costs of providing out-of-hours care and led to worsening services for patients.

"Putting GPs at the heart of developing our health services by giving them direct control of the NHS budget, together with the responsibility for commissioning out-of-hours services, will reverse the restrictions in access to NHS care caused by Gordon Brown's mismanagement."

A Department of Health spokesman said Miss Campbell's case was not related to changes in out-of-hours provision.