Patients who do not need urgent care but cannot wait until their GP surgery opens are advised to use the out-of-hours care service.
After ringing a central number, a clinician calls back and advises whether the patient needs a home visit by a doctor or whether they should go to one of the three centres here in North Wales at the district hospitals in Wrexham, Bodelwyddan and Bangor.
Patients must have the confidence that NHS services will be there when they need them, but worryingly last week a leaked report into the GP out-of-hours service in north Wales revealed it is not always safe and is failing on every measure.
The report, which comes hot on the heels of the mishandling of decisions on maternity care in the region, was prepared by a team of consultants in March It includes responses from 117 staff and 84% said at times they felt the service was "not safe" and compared the north Wales service against recognised Welsh standards.
All "very urgent cases" should have a face-to-face consultation within an hour but, last year, that was achieved only half the time in north Wales.
The standards also say 100% of urgent calls should have a definitive assessment in 20 minutes. The service managed 80%.
Concerns was also raised about unfilled shifts resulting in long waits for patients for help on the phone and a lack of leadership.
The report details problems in the service being identified back in 2013 and patients must be wondering what on earth health board bosses are doing, given how long these problems have been brewing. Those running the NHS in the region really should consider whether they are fit to run one of the biggest public sector organisations in the country.
Perhaps more worryingly, the report also demonstrates that the Welsh Labour Government was informed on a weekly basis of such failings, yet did nothing to address them. That Ministers were aware of the risks but buried their heads in the sand is a disgrace.
The report provides us with yet another example of both the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and the Welsh Labour Government letting down the people of North Wales and putting patients at risk.
We now need urgent action to get to grips with these chronic failings in the GP out-of-hours service in North Wales and reassure patients that they will always receive safe care.
If Ministers can so cavalierly disregard such serious warnings and failings in GP out-of-hours, we deserve to know what other failings are being ignored.