More Birmingham patients are able to see their GP in the evenings and at weekends, but the city is still failing to meet NHS targets for offering out-of-hours services.
New figures show almost half the city’s 224 surgeries now see patients outside of traditional opening hours, but the situation varies wildly in different parts of the city.
The Government convinced GPs to agree to new opening hours following a furious row earlier this year. Ministers want at least half of all surgeries to see patients for at least three hours a week outside of the usual 9 to 5 opening times, by the end of the year.
The aim is to make it easier for the public to obtain medical care, particularly if they are working or caring for children. But doctors’ representatives the BMA opposed the scheme, partly because it meant GPs would be paid less and would have to earn the money back by working new hours.
In Birmingham East and North Primary Care Trust, which covers Sutton Coldfield, Erdington, Hodge Hill and Yardley, fewer than a third of surgeries offer extended opening.
By contrast, in Heart of Birmingham Primary Care Trust, which covers Perry Barr, Ladywood and Sparkbrook constituencies, more than two thirds of surgeries open late.
And almost two-thirds of trusts offer extended hours in South Birmingham PCT, which covers Edgbaston, Selly Oak, Hall Green and Northfield.
Across Birmingham as a whole, 121 of the 224 trusts are opening outside traditional hours. Health trusts in Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Solihull are all meeting the 50 per cent target.
In the wider West Midlands region, 42 per cent of trusts offer extended opening hours. And some health trusts are nowhere close to meeting the target. In South Staffordshire and in Herefordshire, no GP surgeries are open late.
City MP Khalid Mahmood (Lab Perry Barr) said: “We are close to the 50 per cent target in Birmingham but this is a minimum target and we should aim to do much better. When it is impossible to see a GP, people inevitably go to A&E departments instead and this clogs up hospitals. We need to make it easy for people see a GP when they need to.”
Across England as a whole, 3,128 of the country’s 8,284 surgeries are offering extended opening hours, 38 per cent of the total.
The Department of Health said it was on course to meet its target by the new year.
It had provided health trusts with £158 million to help them offer incentives to GPs to open late and at weekends, a spokeswoman said.
Health Minister Ivan Lewis said: “In a modern NHS patients are entitled to accessible and flexible primary care services which are organised around their often busy lives.
“These figures demonstrate that rapid progress is being made to ensure that at least 50 per cent of all GP practices offer some evening and weekend appointments by the end of the year.”
There is no legal obligation on doctors to alter their hours but many trusts are now offering additional payments and other incentives in an effort to meet the Department’s 50 per cent target.
A survey by the Healthcare Commission last month found that a quarter of patients still struggled to obtain an appointment with their doctor at a time that suited them.
A spokesperson for NHS West Midlands said: “The NHS in the West Midlands is striving to meet the needs of patients, and offer flexible services to fit in with their busy lives and family circumstances.
“Patients are telling us that they want better access to GPs at times to suit them. In a West Midlands survey of residents in April, residents told us they wanted better access to GPs and for it to be easier to book an appointment at a convenient time and date. In the recent GP survey, the public were largely satisfied with their GP, but were less satisfied than previous years with the opening hours, with the main reasons that practices did not open on Saturdays and evenings.
“West Midlands Primary Care Trusts are all signed up to offering patients extended opening hours. It is reassuring for patients that in some areas of the West Midlands, over 50 per cent of all GP practices are already offering some evening and weekend appointments, higher than the national average.
“PCTs are working with all GPs and Local Medical Committees, particularly in those areas, where uptake is low, and we are confident that 50 per cent of practices across the West Midlands will be offering longer opening hours by the end of 2008”.
A spokesperson for NHS West Midlands said: “The NHS in the West Midlands is striving to meet the needs of patients, and offer flexible services to fit in with their busy lives and family circumstances.
“Patients are telling us that they want better access to GPs at times to suit them. In a West Midlands survey of residents in April, residents told us they wanted better access to GPs and for it to be easier to book an appointment at a convenient time and date. In the recent GP survey, the public were largely satisfied with their GP, but were less satisfied than previous years with the opening hours, with the main reasons that practices did not open on Saturdays and evenings.
“West Midlands Primary Care Trusts are all signed up to offering patients extended opening hours. It is reassuring for patients that in some areas of the West Midlands, over 50 per cent of all GP practices are already offering some evening and weekend appointments, higher than the national average.
“PCTs are working with all GPs and Local Medical Committees, particularly in those areas, where uptake is low, and we are confident that 50 per cent of practices across the West Midlands will be offering longer opening hours by the end of 2008”.
* PCT Total Number of GP Surgeries (Surgeries Offering Extended Opening)
Birmingham East and North: 82 (26)
Coventry Teaching: 63 (12)
Dudley: 54 (30)
Heart of Birmingham Teaching: 78 (57)
Herefordshire: 24 (0)
North Staffordshire: 35 (21)
Sandwell: 63 (52)
Shropshire: 44 (1)
Solihull Care: 31 (16)
South Birmingham: 64 (39)
South Staffordshire: 95 (0)
Stoke on Trent: 55 (26)
Telford & Wrekin: 20 (1)
Walsall Teaching: 63 (53)
Warwickshire: 75 (45)
Wolverhampton City: 57 (25)
Worcestershire: 67 (5)
