‘Go and see your GP just when YOU want’

Mar 19 2008 by Katie Campling, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

FAMILY doctors in Huddersfield will be offering evening surgeries by next year.

The new GP service will mean longer opening hours and better access for patients, it is said.

Every primary care trust (PCT) area in Yorkshire is to get a new extended hours, GP-led service from 2009.

It will mean patients can be seen by a GP between 8am and 8pm, seven days a week, and can been seen with or without an appointment.

The new service is only going to be available in one location for each area, which is yet to be decided.

It will have a register of patients, but people can also be seen on a walk-in basis.

The idea is that the new GP-led service will act as an example of how the Government wants primary care to be run.

Discussions are still taking place with GPs on how to extend hours at every surgery in future.

PCTs in each area are still deciding whether the new service will be housed in new surgeries or provided through extended opening hours at existing centres.

Margaret Edwards, chief executive of NHS Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “We all lead busy lives and all kinds of services are now open round the clock. Healthcare should be no different.

“You should be able to access healthcare when you want, not have to fit your life around when the doctor’s surgery is open.”

In addition to the new GP-led service certain areas of Yorkshire which have a shortage of GPs are to get new surgeries.

Ten new GP surgeries will be created in areas including Calderdale, Hull, Barnsley and Rotherham.

Ms Edwards said: “This will provide more GPs in areas where they are needed most.

“The NHS in Yorkshire is committed to providing services for local people, where they are needed, when they are needed.”

The new GP-led health services are part of a national programme announced last December 13 by the Government.

The programme aims to improve access to GP services and reduce inequalities between different areas.