GPs provide a vital service, that’s why we want more!
We are investing more money than ever before in primary care, with average GP pay rising by 55 per cent since 2002/2003.
The Government is committed to working with GPs to improve access to services and to support wider improvements in the quality of GP services.
General satisfaction with GP services is high.
However, last year’s GP patient survey showed that nearly six and a half million patients were dissatisfied with the opening hours of their GP practice.
It would be wrong to ignore this level of opinion.
A survey published recently by the consumer organisation, Which?, found that the public’s two top health priorities were making it easier to make GP appointments and being able to book weekend or evening appointments.
We have therefore been working with the BMA to try to agree a package that will extend GP opening times to meet the needs of patients.
The proposals put to the BMA are based on practices opening for just an extra three hours on average each week, either on a Saturday morning or on one or more weekday evenings.
The BMA proposed to offer an extra two hours a week, which we did not feel was good enough value for money for the taxpayer.
The extra opening hours would be achieved by reinvesting about £150 million currently spent on GP incentive schemes for patient access.
None of this money would come, as the BMA has claimed, from the management of chronic diseases.
There would be no impact, as the BMA has also claimed, on the daytime services provided by GPs. Weekend and evening appointments would not in any way substitute for these existing services. In return for these changes, the Government has offered a guaranteed 1.5 per cent increase in primary care investment.
We are particularly disappointed that the BMA has also chosen to respond to a debate about increasing access to primary care by giving advice to GPs on the financial impact of leaving the NHS.
We do not believe this is a view shared by the vast majority of front-line GPs who remain committed to both the values of the NHS and to increasing the quality and accessibility of primary care services.
Our proposals represent a fair offer that increases investment in primary care, provides greater convenience for patients and offers a good deal for GPs.
We hope that front-line GPs will support the proposals in the poll that the BMA will be conducting among its members.