I hesitated to relate my experience of these two services since this incident happened in Feruary 2009 but it does not seem that things have changed much. On one Sunday morning my Mum for whom I cared , was in considerable pain and was sick. I called the out of hours service. It took until 6pm brfore the doctor arrived. He was foreign and even I had difficulty in understanding him, let alone my very fragile Mum. Apart from this, his care was good. He called an ambnlance. The paramedics assessed my Mum and decided that she did not need admitting. My heart sank because I knew that she was very seriously ill. For the next couple of days we struggled on with Mum's professional carer in charge (we employed her to come in each morning) Mum's condition deteriorated and the GP was called. He called an ambulance and this time Mum was admitted. Far from the digestive and constipation problems which was the earlier diagnosis, Mum had advanced ovarian cancer. At the age of 91, surgery was out of the question. She was in hospital for one month before being transferred to a nursing home since it was now impossible for her to be cared for at home. She needed constant specialist palliative nursing care and the attendant equipment which could not be accomodated in the home. After two months (surprisingly long), she died.