Johnson writes to GPs over ops row
Updated on 04 February 2008
Health Secretary Alan Johnson has written to every GP in England to explain why he wants surgeries to open at evenings and weekends, it has been reported.
The Government is embroiled in a row with doctors over extended opening hours.
It wants GP surgeries to open for an extra half an hour for every 1,000 patients, in blocks of one and a half hours.
For an average GP practice with 6,000 patients, this would mean an extra three hours a week.
The BMA is willing to have surgeries open for an extra two hours on average, the equivalent of 6.30pm to 8.30pm on a weekday evening or a Saturday morning surgery.
But the Government is demanding they open for three.
Because of the opposition from many GPs, Mr Johnson has written each doctor a letter explaining why he believes the Government is right, the BBC reported.
A Department of Health spokesman said: "We are not making any comment about it at the moment."
Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the British Medical Association's GPs Committee, said: "GPs will always do their best to ensure that all their patients are able to get an appointment when they need one.
"A recent survey of over two million people in England showed that the vast majority of patients were happy with their surgeries' opening hours. Only four out of every hundred patients wanted their practice to open in the evening, and seven out of a hundred on a Saturday morning."
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