NHS promises 7-day GPs for all by March
EVERYONE will be able to make evening and weekend GP appointments by March, the Government insisted last night, despite claims they are unpopular and a waste of money.
The NHS is increasing the number of areas offering a seven-day service and health chiefs in the worst-performing areas say they are trying to boost awareness and expect them to fill up soon.
But shocking new figures today show a quarter of evening and weekend appointments are not being taken up.
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More than £15million has already been wasted by a total of 501,396 extended hours going unused across 80 clinical areas, according to Pulse magazine.
But officials last night insisted the 8am-8pm, seven-day system was already helping millions of patients.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman added: “We’re committed to ensuring this service is extended to all patients by March 2019.”
The NHS will invest more than £500million in the scheme by 2020/21, but Pulse said 37 per cent of Sunday appointments are left unfilled as are 23 per cent of Saturday appointments.
This is marginally higher than evening appointments, with 23 per cent going unused across the areas where it has already been introduced.
The worst case was in Thanet, Kent, where just three per cent of available Sunday slots and 26 per cent on Saturdays have been used since April.
A Thanet Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) spokesman said: “Our expectation is that uptake will improve once awareness increases, and will build with time.”
During the initial testing period, NHS chiefs said each appointment cost £30-£50.
The British Medical Association’s GP committee chairman Dr Richard Vautrey said: “Because it has become a political must-do, everybody is jumping.
“Sensible CCGs that want to use their resources in a better way are under pressure to maintain a service that really is not good value for money. “That is ridiculous so I think we really do need to see much more common sense and pragmatic flexibility.” Royal College of GPs chairwoman Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard said it was “shocking” so many appointments are going unused. She said: “GPs want to give patients access to services they need, but this will differ depending on local demographics. At a time when general practice is struggling for resources and patients are waiting longer for routine appointments, to find out so many evening and weekend appointments have been unfilled due to lack of demand is shocking.” NHS England said: “Even though six out of 10 CCGs did not respond to this small survey, the more representative results of the annual GP survey and the patient response to new digital-first GP providers is clear – patients want quicker access to a trusted GP, both during the working week and outside traditional surgery hours. And patients are prepared to vote with their feet to get it.”