Below is a letter sent by the Secrtary of State to all MP's.
From the Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP Secretary of State for Health
The Rt Hon Sir George Young MP House of Commons
Westminster
London SW1A OAA
Dear Colleague,
14 May 2009
I would like to update you on the position in England on how we are improving patient access to GP services.
General satisfaction with GP services is high, and the quality of our primary care is admired across the world. However, significant numbers of patients have consistently told us that improving access to GP services should be a priority for the NHS.
Last year, we asked Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) to work with GP practices and other partners to improve responsiveness of primary care services and in particular to:
· Ensure that at least 50 per cent of their GP practices offer extended opening outside core hours; and
· Secure additional access to GP services through procurement for GP-led Health Centres (in each PCT) and over 100 new GP practices targeted at poorly served areas.
Extended opening hours
We agreed a scheme with the British Medical Association to encourage GP practices in England to offer routine appointments outside normal surgery hours (Barn to 6.30pm), at times convenient to their patients. An average practice will now be offering around three extra hours a week. These hours will be provided at times that the practices' patients want, based on what they told us through the GP Patient Survey. We have funded this by reinvesting £158 million from incentive schemes that came to an end last year.
In January last year the Prime Minister gave the commitment that by the end of the year at least half of all GP practices in England should offer their patients extended opening hours. Thanks to the hard work of local NHS organisations and GP practices themselves, this target was met three months early - by the end of September last year. The latest published data shows that three quarters of GP practices are now offering routine surgeries at evenings, weekends or early in the morning.
For the NHS, we set the more challenging target in the Operating Framework in 2008/09 that 50 per cent of GP practices in each PCT area should be offering extended opening hours. The latest published data (April 2009) shows that 151 (of 152 - 99.3%) of PCTs have achieved this. Seventy-two (47.4%) have gone well beyond this with 75% or more of their practices delivering extended opening and three have all their practices offering extended opening.
Local Procurements of GP-led health centres and GP practices
In addition, we are investing an additional £250 million a year for 152 new GP health centres around the country as well as over 100 new GP practices in the areas that need them most. This is additional investment for additional services - more GPs and nurses, more appointments, and longer and more convenient opening hours.
The GP led Health centres will enable any member of the public to access GP services on a walk-in basis or by pre-booking an appointment, 8am to 8pm, 365 days a year. They will be able to do so whilst still being registered with their own GP.
The new practices will be in spearhead areas, which have the highest levels of deprivation and inequity and provide patients more choice on how they access their local primary healthcare needs.
PCTs have made good progress and the vast majority are well advanced in securing these additional services through open and transparent procurements.
Over 150 are planned to be open by July 2009 and over 90% of the 264 new GP services will be open by the end of the year. Please see attached a list of contracts that have been awarded that are in the public domain. Some PCTs are still finalising contract details and opening dates and will be contacting you to let you know when the new services in your areas will be open. If you have any queries, please contact the PCT direct
As you will see in the attached table, there has been a very good response from all sectors of the market with PCTs awarding contracts to a broad range of providers. Of the contracts that are in the public domain and for which providers have been identified: 42% have been won by GP partnerships, 21 % by the independent sector, 19% by consortia (i.e. a mix of GPs and IS/third sector partners), 12% by third sector organisations and 6% by PCT Provider Arms.
Opening new GP Health Centres in conjunction with implementing longer and more flexible opening hours across existing GP surgeries demonstrates our significant commitment to improving access to primary care and make services fairer for all.
Yours sincerely,
ALAN JOHNSON
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Promoted by Tracey Kirk on behalf of Sir George Young both at 2 Church Close, Andover, Hants SP10 1DP 