Ministers push for longer GP opening hours
GP surgeries should provide more evening and weekend services to increase patient choice, the health secretary said today.
Patricia Hewitt outlined plans for surgeries to open beyond the usual 9am to 5pm day, as part of the government’s efforts to create a “truly patient-centred” NHS.
The “overriding message” from consultations with the public showed that people want to be able to see their GP at a time that suits them, she told a conference of primary care professionals in Harrogate.
She added: “Banks and supermarkets are now open seven days a week and primary care services need to catch up.
“Patients only have a choice of NHS Direct and A&E at weekends so we need to ensure there is something in the middle.”
However, the proposals – to be outlined in the white paper on out-of-hospital care, due later this year – have been met with criticism.
Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said the government was on the verge of making a “major U-turn” with the plans, which come hot on the heels of the introduction of new GP contracts last year, which specifically allow doctors to back out of out-of-hours care.
“The government agreed a contract with [GPs] that reduced access to patients to their services and now Patricia Hewitt is complaining to them,” he told Today.
He said it was “absolutely clear” to those working in the NHS that ministers “did not know” what the future direction of policy was going to be.
“They’ve entered into change of primary care trusts locally, change in the structure of them, without ever saying what the long-term functions of the primary care trusts have to be,” Mr Lansley said.
He added: “It’s supposed to be a patient-centred NHS; all we’ve had from the government is endless discussion about the structure of primary care trusts.”
Other proposals included in the white paper would give patients the option to register with more than one GP – such as one at home, and one near work – and extend the walk-in centre programme to improve access to care for people away from where they live.
In addition, Ms Hewitt announced plans to create personal health and social care plans for people with high risk conditions, and provide more integrated local services to provide care closer to home.
“Overall what we are striving for all patients to have a choice and all patients to have a voice. We need to listen more to their concerns and ideas and work with them to increase that choice and access to services,” the health secretary said.
“We’ve come a long way since 1997, with improved hospitals, world class A&E services, reductions in death rates from the big killer diseases and falling waiting times.
“But now we need to do more to put patients at the heart of services and create better quality services, using more diverse providers with more freedom to innovate and improve services where necessary.”
