GPs to be available seven days a week as part of £41m plan
EVERYONE in Greater Manchester will soon have access to a GP seven days a week.
Health and social care bosses in our region have agreed a £41m four-year plan to improve services and reduce pressure on A&Es. Seven-day GP access has been a priority for health and council chiefs in recent years – and it is soon set to become a reality. Bosses say every resident will have same-day access to services, including at the weekend.
The plan also involves a major review of 24/7 urgent primary care.
It is hoped duplication between GP out-of-hours services, NHS 111, A&E departments and the ambulance service will be addressed and round-theclock emergency access improved. Costs could also be cut in the process.
The Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership Board plan revolves around groups of GP practices working together in ‘clusters’, supported by designated local ‘hubs’.
They will be part of wider neighbourhood ‘hubs’, offering a broader range of services, serving around 30,000 to 50,000 residents. The ‘hubs’, which could also provide urgent care, will offer a full range of general medical ●●Health bosses have put together a plan to give people seven-day-a-week access to a GP to help reduce pressure on A&E departments services, with access to routine diagnostics, blood tests and x-rays.
Bosses on the board, which took control of the region’s £6bn health and social care budget last year, say introducing weekend hours at every GP practice will put too much pressure on individual sites. Instead, patients will have access to services seven-days-aweek somewhere within their local ‘hub’. It is hoped seven-day services will help some of the region’s most vulnerable people and cut A&E admissions.
Health chiefs say more than 2,500 patients who go to emergency departments every day could be treated elsewhere.
The plan will build on the success of extended access schemes already up and running, such as in Bury.
Board chairman Lord Peter Smith said: “Putting primary care back at the heart of our local communities is absolutely the right thing to do and shows how devolution can make gains for patients across Greater Manchester.”