A Cambridgeshire out of hours GP service has been given a verdict of caring and excellent by a health watchdog body.

Patients are “consistently pleased” with the service they receive at the five out of hours primary care centres in Ely, Doddington, Wisbech, Huntingdon and Cambridge.

The Cambridgeshire Doctors on Call, also known as Urgent Care Cambridgeshire, provides an evening and weekend out of ours primary care service for patients in the county when GP surgeries are closed.

More than 500 patients completed a questionnaire about their experience using the on-call system and 98 per cent described it as good or better.

The Care Quality Commission praised the “very effective” system in place to manage medicines and “excellent governance” and risk management procedures.

The service is responsive to concerns and comments and there is a clear vision and strategy that is effectively communicated, the report says.

People’s dignity is protected thanks to purpose designed consultation rooms and staff have a “passion for patient care.”

There is a strong culture of patient centred care and a good recruitment, induction and training process, it adds.

The only action needed to improve, according to the report, is completing audit cycles which is already in the pipeline.