article_snippet: Surgeries in Essex, the West Midlands and London are being offered cash incentives to open during the four-day break.
article_snippet: GPs in Essex, the West Midlands and some London boroughs will be offered the incentive payments.
article_snippet: The offer is only being made to those practices that are not already part of the directed enhanced service scheme - an agreement which sees GPs offered an annual payment for increasing cover at weekends.
article_snippet: the incentive payments are being offered to cover patients with urgent care needs and will also be paid for doctors to carry out home visits, the Daily Express reported.
article_snippet: However The offer has now been extended to include London and Essex, as well as in some parts of the north.
article_snippet: GP practices that do not normally offer weekend cover  under the directed enhanced services scheme will be offered the payments . '
article_snippet: For the small number not achieving this level of coverage, we are working with local Clinical Commissioning Groups and will be offering an additional payment called a Local Enhanced Service to cover the costs. '
article_snippet: Our are determining additional requirements in a small number of boroughs.'
article_snippet: In the North and East some incentives will be offered, but the North and East some incentives are understood to have greater cover over weekends.
article_snippet: Under this agreement GPs were allowed to hand responsibility for out-of-hours care to private firms.
highlights_snippet: Surgeries in Essex, West Midlands and London will be offered payments .
  
highlights_snippet: In the North and East some incentives will be given for extra opening hours .