Longer surgery hours a success

3:30pm Saturday 5th July 2008

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Almost 70 per cent of GP practices in Bradford and Airedale are opening their doors earlier in the morning or later at night to offer patients more flexible appointment times.

The move comes after the Department of Health last month claimed none of the district’s 86 GP surgeries offered extended hours.

While many practices have started offering extended hours this month, several others have been providing this service for some time.

The move follows changes to the GP contract in March, to reward practices which extend their opening hours by an average of three hours a week at times to reflect the needs of patients.

“This is great news for patients,” said Helen Hirst, director of service development at the Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust.

“We’ve been talking to practices about extending their opening hours and I’m delighted that so many have responded positively. From this month, 67 per cent of our practices will open earlier or later in the day.

“Patients keep telling us how helpful flexible opening hours would be. These changes mean more patients than ever can now get the NHS services they need, when they want them.”

Dr Jandu & Partners practice at Frizinghall started offering Monday evening appointments in April.

Practice manager Lynda Smith said: “We did a patient questionnaire and the main thing that people asked for was extended opening hours.

“So we began opening until 8.15pm on Monday evenings. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback from patients, so we feel it’s been really worthwhile.

“Patients can pre-book to see a GP or have a nurse appointment for things like smear tests, vaccinations and stop-smoking help. Monday is our busiest day so it made sense to open longer then. It’s popular and we have low rates of missed appointments.”

The trust had a target of getting at least half of all practices offering extended hours, and that has now been exceeded with 58 practices offering a mix of early mornings, evenings and Saturday mornings.

Patients should check with their local practice to find out if they are offering extended opening times.