NEARLY 1,000 more appointments a week will be available across the city by next year for people registered with Bradford GPs.

The new extended hours service is being rolled out as part of a scheme to better use NHS resources, says the local clinical commissioning group responsible for it.

A spokesman for NHS Bradford City Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said it was working very hard to improve access to GP services for everyone living in the city and that by phasing in a longer hours service more people would be able to book appointments with doctors or other primary care professionals such as physiotherapists.

By April next year, half of the local population will have access to the service and it will be fully operational for everyone to use by October 2018.

As part of the new primary care package, the CCG shut its former walk-in service at Hillside Bridge Health Centre in Barkerend in May to replace it with a new extended hours service at Westbourne Green Health Centre in Manningham. Eventually the CCG hopes to have three such centres.

“By October 2018, we anticipate there being an average of around 920 appointments per week at this service, available to everyone registered with a Bradford family doctor,” said the Bradford City CCG spokesman.

An urgent care service has also been working out of A&E at Bradford Royal Infirmary since November to help reduce pressure on the busy unit. It has been opening between 6pm to midnight weekdays and from noon to midnight at weekends where GPs look after patients who are triaged at the unit but do not need to see an emergency doctor. From spring 2018, it will also see its hours extended from noon to midnight, seven days a week.

However, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has made it clear the urgent care service is most definitely not direct access and is only part of its A&E pathway.

A spokesman for the Hospitals Trust said: “We recognise the work the CCGs are doing to improve urgent care services across the district, especially the extended hours GP service and the urgent care service based here at Bradford Royal Infirmary. It’s still very important for people to think carefully before coming to our A&E department, so it’s free for us to deal with those patients who really need our help.

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“We estimate that around 30 per cent of attendees to A&E could have been seen in a different clinical setting – such as at their GP surgery or local pharmacy, or by calling NHS 111 for advice, and we urge people with less serious conditions to please use these alternatives to A&E.”

Anyone wanting to express a view about the new extended hours service can visit surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Bradfordextendedaccess.