Most people ‘are not demanding expanded GP opening hours’

A survey of more than 800,000 patients across England has suggested that relatively few people are pushing for a significant expansion in current GP opening hours.

Carried out by a team from the University of East Anglia and the University of Oxford, and published in the British Journal of General Practice, the survey indicated that 81 percent of people are happy with GP surgery times as they stand.

Of those who were not happy about opening times, 76 percent were in favour of weekend opening, with three of four out of that group favouring appointments on Saturday, suggesting demand for Sunday appointments are low.

The groups most likely to favour weekend opening were younger people, those working full-time and those who could not get time off work.

This research comes at a time when the government is making high-profile efforts to push for seven-day access to NHS services, despite concerns raised by medical professionals over the lack of time and resources available to implement this.

Dr Maureen Baker, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: "We hope this research will quell the government's obsession with seven-day working once and for all."