Weekend and evening GP access for Londoner’s

An extra 75,000 routine appointments will be available each month in London as part of a £26 million NHS England scheme to reduce pressures on stretched A&E departments.

As the first region to offer the extended service, when surgeries in the capital are fully booked or closed when registered patients call up, they will be able to book with other nearby practices. With patient records shared electronically, it matters little if a patient is not seen by their regular doctor.

NHS England's Professor Jane Cummings said: "Appointments at evenings and weekends will help manage pressures on urgent and emergency care services, especially over the busy winter period."

However, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has said that, while the aim to increase availability is admirable, ‘it is simply impossible for every GP practice to be open every night and every weekend in the current climate’.

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the group, said: "Hardworking GPs and our teams are offering more consultations than ever before – including in the evenings and at weekends - and seeing over 1m patients across the country every day. But we are still struggling after years of underinvestment in our service, and we have a severe shortage of GPs.

"Workload in general practice has increased 16 per cent over the last seven years, but the number of GPs has not kept pace with increasing demand. We want to do the best for our patients but we need to keep our patients safe and there is a limit beyond which we cannot guarantee this.

"It's encouraging to see investment promised in NHS England's GP Forward View making its way to frontline general practice, where our GPs and our patients need it – but we still have a long way to go until we have sufficient resources and numbers of GPs to deliver the care all our patients need and deserve. NHS England's GP Forward View, which also promises an extra £2.4 billion a year for general practice and 5,000 more GPs by 2020, could be a lifeline for our profession – but only if it is delivered in full and as a matter of urgency, in London and right across the country.”