article_snippet.sent: Weekend opening hours for GPs has been touted as one solution - by improving access, many patients won’t need to take up other care services.
article_snippet.sent: Since the summer of 2013, a number of GP surgeries in London have been piloting seven-day opening, as part of the Challenge Fund initiative - funding for which was recently increased from £50 million to £100 million.
article_snippet.sent: Through the Challenge Fund, GP surgeries were asked to bid for funds for extra opening hours, but this was solely for set-up costs, for example, the sharing of medical records.
article_snippet.sent: Running costs had to be covered by surgeries from existing budgets.
article_snippet.sent: Weekend opening hours for GPs has been touted as one solution to relieve the mounting pressure on A&E departments - by improving access, it is thought many patients won’t need to take up other care services .
article_snippet.sent: Out-of-hour services and walk-in centres, of course are already available.
article_snippet.sent: In a survey of GP patients conducted in 2014, three-quarters of respondents said that three-quarters of respondents found opening hours convenient.
article_snippet.sent: But among those who found GP opening hours inconvenient, 74 per cent wanted surgeries to be open on Saturdays, 71 per cent late hours (after 6.30pm) and 37 per cent wanted those who found GP opening hours inconvenient open on Sundays.
article_snippet.sent: As one GP put it: 'Longer opening is a fine idea but the problem is that the people who see us the most - young children and elderly - are the ones that don’t have a problem with appointments on a Monday afternoon.
article_snippet.sent: Seven-day opening, however, does not actually mean all surgeries are open all week.
article_snippet.sent: In many places, weekend or late opening is rotated between nearby surgeries.
article_snippet.sent: It’s a practical and cheap solution, especially for small surgeries which have less resources to spend, fewer GP and nursing staff, so less flexibility in adding weekend shifts.