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Extra hours – but your doc won’t be there

by Alice McKeegan
19/ 8/2008

DOZENS of GP practices in Rochdale will be paid for having longer opening hours – even though they didn’t offer appointments with their own doctors.

New figures have revealed that just two out of 35 GP practices in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Primary Care Trust are providing extended hours services on site.

Surgeries will get an average of £18,000 a year for staying open later and at weekends in a government drive, but most have sent patients to be seen elsewhere.

The trust said that patients could still receive extended hours care and many services were not included in the most recent figures after changes were made to Department of Health guidelines.

Pilots, such as the clinic in Sainsbury’s at Heaton Park, were no longer included in the figures.

Vivienne Ben-David, head of primary care at the trust, said that 28 out of the 35 GPs currently offered an ‘extended hours service’ and is confident that the trust is on track to ensure that half of surgeries meet the guidelines by December.

She said: "A total of 28 out of 35 of our local GPs continue to provide our patients with an extended hours service. However, the department of health has set new minimum requirements for extended hours, meaning that sessions have to be provided by GPs on their own practice premises, for a specific number of hours per week.  We have some innovative pilots underway. These pilots no longer meet the government targets for extended hours as patients are not seen at a GP practice."

In March, an innovative six-month pilot scheme was launched to enable Rochdale patients to see a doctor during evenings and weekends.

The service is running at the Walk In Centre, Whitehall Street and eight Rochdale-based GP practices have already signed up to the project with more in the pipeline.

The trust also plans to introduce an enhanced service for extended hours over the next few weeks to meet the new department of health requirements.