THE Vale of Leven Hospital's GP out-of-hours service has been fully reinstated, according to health chiefs - after two years of disruption.

It means the area now has access to the service across evenings, weekends and overnight.

The weekend service will launch at 6pm on Friday, February 19 - initially under a short review period to ensure the new staffing arrangements can support the model long-term.

The out of hours service has been plagued by closures for since 2019 due to difficulty finding enough medical professionals to staff the service.

If the implementation period is successful, the weekend service will remain in place alongside the evening service, which was reinstated in January, and the overnight service which operates seven days a week.

The new arrangement has been made possible through discussions between NHSGGC and local GPs who will staff the service as part of the hospital’s Integrated Care GP team (ICGP).

The ICGP team will also continue to deliver other vital out of hours medical cover across the Vale, including the Medical Assessment Unit, the Minor Injuries Unit, the admissions ward and the inpatient wards.

Patients should only use the service if they require urgent GP care and their normal practice is not open. In line with GP Out of Hours services across NHSGGC, patients should make an appointment through NHS24 by calling 111.

Susan Manion, interim chief officer for GP out of hours services, said: "We are pleased to be able to provisionally reinstate the weekend GP out of hours service ahead of schedule which means a full service is now in operation at the Vale of Leven, providing the local community with vital out of hours access to a GP in evenings, at weekends and overnight.

"The Integrated Care team at the Vale working alongside our local GPs have been crucial in enabling us to reinstate this service and it’s thanks to them we’re now able to provide a full, robust and sustainable long-term proposition for GP out of hours."