CHANGES to the way Gwent patients can get out-of-hours GP services will be introduced at the end of September - and health bosses are gearing up for an information campaign to spread the word.

Every household in Gwent will receive information through their letterboxes early next month detailing how, from Monday September 27, they may seek out-of-hours treatment.

Although the providers of night-time and Bank Holiday GP cover - currently private company Primecare and Gwent Urgent Primary Care, a GPs' co-operative - will change, the basic system for assessing the needs of a patient calling for out-of-hours assistance will be the same.

The most noticeable change will be the closure of local GPs' Saturday morning surgeries, with this period coming into the out-of-hours system. The changes have been triggered by the new United Kingdom-wide GP contract, which is transforming the working practices of family doctors.

Until now GPs have been responsible for providing out-of-hours cover, but the contract passes that responsibility, in Wales, to the Local Health Boards (LHBs).

Gwent's five LHBs - Newport, Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly and Monmouthshire - have joined forces to fund a Gwent-wide out-of-hours service to be provided by Gwent Healthcare Trust.

The arrangements, which will see out-of-hours services become responsible for more than 115 hours a week of GP cover for patients, will cost more than £4 million to implement.

From September 27, anyone requiring to see a doctor urgently between 6.30pm and 8am on weekdays, and the whole of Saturdays, Sundays, and Bank or public holidays, must use a new telephone number - 0845 600 1231.

This will give access to specially trained NHS staff who will take patients' details and reasons for the call.

They will then either pass the call to a doctor or nurse to give advice, refer the call to a primary care centre for an appointment to be arranged with a doctor, arrange a home visit, or refer the call to the ambulance service. Seven GP-staffed primary care centres will operate out-of-hours in Gwent, with at least one in each county borough.