60 per cent of patients do not have evening and weekend access to their GP

Despite the Government promising in 2014 that every patient would have GP access seven days a week by 2020, according to NHS data more than half are still not able to see their family doctor every day of the week.

Four years following the promise, less than 40 per cent have ‘full access’ to extended-hours appointments, meaning that they can book a consultation any time between 8am and 8pm, Monday to Sunday.

The lack of GP availability at evenings and weekends has been blamed for the increasing numbers of patients attending Accident & Emergency, especially during the winter months.

GP leaders have said surgeries are currently too short-staffed to provide extra appointments, saying that they struggle to provide consultation slots during working hours, let alone at evenings and weekends.

R Krishna Kasaraneni of The BMA’s GP committee, said “While general practice continues to struggle under the intense pressures of increased demand, unmanageable workloads and a workforce crisis, these figures show the vast majority of patients have some access to GP services out of normal working hours.

“However, if the Government and NHS England are to fulfil ambitious targets, they must be backed up with proper resources and a concerted effort to tackle the underlying problems affecting general practice, not least the fact that there are simply not enough GPs to meet the needs of a growing population with ever-more complex conditions.”

Chairman of the Royal College of GPs Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, said “Our workload has increased exponentially in terms of volume and complexity, but the share of the NHS budget we receive is less than it was a decade ago, and GP numbers are decreasing.

“We want to give patients access to services they need, and actually the great majority of GP practices are providing extended access to their services in some form already.”

A spokesman from the Department of Health said “We want everyone to have access to GP services, including routine appointments at weekends and evenings – and already millions of patients have benefited from this, which is backed by our investment of an extra £2.4billion a year into general practice by 2021.”

Chadwick Lawrence’s specialist team of clinical negligence lawyers have years of experience in medical negligence compensation claims, and have obtained substantial compensation for our clients. Not only do we represent clients in Yorkshire, but because of our reputation we also represent clients nationally.

If you believe that you or a relative may have been injured as a result of clinical/medical negligence, please call for free legal advice from our medical negligence solicitors on the freephone number below.

Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

Freephone : 0800 304 738