Review aims to boost GP access

Around 4,000 practices will open "additional hours" to serve patients at convenient times to suit them, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said.

He joined Health Secretary Alan Johnson for the launch of health minister Lord Ara Darzi's interim report on the future of the NHS in England.

Mr Brown's appearance at the central London press conference added weight to speculation he is about to call a General Election. However, campaigners and opposition MPs claimed the key report had been brought forward as a vote winner before a snap poll. However, Lord Darzi dismissed the idea.

His report - Our NHS, Our Future - sets out how primary care trusts (PCTs) must work with doctors to ensure they open at weekends or on one or more week-nights. If doctors refuse, then PCTs will be able to use cash to commission those services from elsewhere.

A total of 150 GP-run health centres, open seven days a week from 8am to 8pm, will also be established and put in "easily accessible" locations, the report said. These will include access to services such as diagnostic testing and physiotherapy - similar to "polyclinics".

All patients admitted to hospital for planned or emergency procedures will also be screened for MRSA. The Government's aim is to screen all elected admissions next year, with screening for emergency admissions phased in over the next three years.

More than 100 new GP practices with up to 900 GPs, nurses, and health care assistants will also open in the quarter (25%) of PCTs with the poorest provision. The aim there is to tackle a shortage of GPs in some regions and improve the health of people living in deprived areas.

Mr Brown said addressing the lack of access to doctors would require "both new investment in funds and intensified reform". He added: "Working together with GPs we will increase access to existing GP surgeries so that patients can get the services they want at times convenient for them and therefore have more choice."

Mr Brown said an "immediate aim" was for at least half of GP surgeries in the country to open for additional hours. However, no official timetable has been put in place for when the extended services will be up and running.