Patients will see GPs in evenings

May 5 2008 by Jule Wilson, The Journal

PATIENTS in Gateshead will be able to visit their GPs at evenings and weekends under Government plans for new local practices.

Gateshead and Middlesbrough are among 12 areas in England to benefit from the proposals, due to be announced today by Health Secretary Alan Johnson.

Extra surgeries are planned in the areas which are also set to benefit from national investment of £105m to improve existing GP facilities.

Primary Care Trusts in Gateshead and Middlesbrough will each receive £1.1m in funding as their share of a £250m access fund announced last autumn. The cash has been earmarked for at least 100 new GP practices in the most deprived areas of the country and 152 GP-led health centres.

A spokeswoman for Gateshead Primary Care Trust said last night that the details of the new schemes had yet to be finalised but that patients were likely to benefit before the end of the year.

She said: “We welcome the additional investment into primary care which will provide patients with more accessible and convenient local services.

“Further information will be made available on an ongoing basis via our website and through the Press, outlining how stakeholders, including patients and the public, can comment on the proposals for the additional local services.”

In addition, a consultation with the British Medical Association is due to be launched on a proposed £105m investment in existing GP practices to expand clinical services and improve access for patients.

Under the proposals, around £50m will fund improved access to GP services, including through extended opening hours.

GPs reluctantly agreed to accept extended opening hours in March after bitter wrangling with the Government over plans to open the average practice for around an extra three hours a week.

Mr Johnson said: “There has been some recent scaremongering about the future of GP practices, but this news shows we are not only committed to Britain’s excellent family doctor system, but also to expanding it.

“We are encouraging GPs to provide more services, closer to where people live so they don’t have to make so many unnecessary trips to hospital.

“Improving access to primary care is also a key priority if we are to deliver more personalised support that meets the needs of individuals and communities, especially those in more disadvantaged or deprived areas. Evidence suggests there is a direct link between low numbers of GP surgeries and poor health within a community.”

It is thought the planned investment in clinical services would fund extra help for patients with heart failure, osteoporosis, learning difficulties and alcohol problems, as well as general healthcare for minority ethnic groups.

The other 10 PCTs set to gain a new GP practice are Rotherham, Enfield, Bury, South Birmingham, Telford and Wrekin, Newham, Coventry Teaching, Bristol, North Somerset, and East Lancashire.