By Richard Johnstone in Manchester | 1 October 2013
GP surgeries are to open for longer under a pilot programme being announced by Prime Minister David Cameron today.
A new £50m fund has been created to pay for trials to extend the opening hours of surgeries from 8am to 8pm across the country. Nine ‘pioneer’ GP practices across England will receive extra money to open for longer outside office hours, seven days a week.
Cameron said the change would help thousands who struggle to find GP appointments that fit in with their family and work life.
‘We want to support GPs to modernise their services so they can see patients from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week,’ he said.
‘We also want greater flexibility, so people can speak to their family doctor on the phone, send them an email or even speak to them on Skype.’
As well as seven-day-a-week access and evening opening hours, the ‘pioneer’ GPs will also test a number of other services, including greater use of Skype, email and phone consultations for some patients.
This first wave of pioneers, which will open from April 2014, will also form part of a wider plan make it easier for practices to join up with each other and other healthcare services in the community. More details on the process for selecting the practices will be set out in December.
Once initial results had been analysed, extended hours would be rolled out across the country, Cameron said.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt added that ‘we need GPs to find new ways of working so they can offer appointments at times that suit hard-working people’.
He said: ‘Cutting-edge GP practices here in Manchester are leading the way, and we want many more patients across the country to benefit.’
Professor Steve Field, the Care Quality Commission’s chief inspector for general practice, said the move towards seven-day services ‘is great news for patients, and should be embraced by GPs’.
He said he would be assessing access to services in each practice he inspected.
