STIRLING families will find it more difficult to access the out-of-hours healthcare service from this month, with changes affecting how urgent issues are dealt with after midnight.

Medical chiefs said there have been “significant challenges” in providing sufficient medical cover over the last few months across the region.

Acknowledging the issue, NHS Forth Valley has announced a number of temporary changes to the way the services are provided across the area until the end of September.

From the week beginning Monday, July 24, there will be no out-of-hours services at Stirling Community Hospital past midnight.

Instead, patients who wish to access services will be directed to Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert.

Local residents who need access to GP advice, treatment or urgent healthcare out of hours have to seek an appointment through NHS 24. Some had already been directed outside the city, depending on availability.

Andrew Murray, medical director at the local health board, said: “Over the last few months, like many other parts of Scotland, we have experienced significant challenges in filling our GP out-of-hours rotas.

“These problems were becoming more frequent and while, we have tried to put in place contingency arrangements, we knew that it would become increasingly difficult to adequately staff our out-of-hours centres over the summer holiday period.”

He said a number of GPs raised concerns about working in isolation when shifts have not been filled and expressed a preference to work alongside other colleagues on a single site “to help manage demand more effectively”.

“We have therefore taken the decision to move from two centres to one centre after midnight and from three centres to two centres at the weekend on a temporary basis”, he said.

And added that the planned approach will make sure services are maintained while more staff are being recruited.

To tackle the issue on the long run, the health board is launching a review of the service in partnership with the Integration Joint Board.

There are plans to gather feedback, ideas and suggestions from local service users, carers and a range of healthcare professionals.