Lindsay Moss: Stretching reality to call GP hours a success

Published on Wednesday 10 September 2008 22:07

HAILING a policy or an idea a success is something politicians find particularly enjoyable.

This week it was the turn of Nicola Sturgeon, the health secretary, to light the fireworks as she announced that 52 per cent of GP practices have now signed up to provide extended hours to patients.

However, many doctors remain less than impressed with the policy, which requires them to open their doors in the evenings and at weekends or face losing thousands of pounds.

One medical insider said while the Scottish Government may consider the take-up rate a success, it had led to an extreme loss of goodwill among GPs.

And he said rather than improving services for patients, it had simply made postcode provision worse – 48 per cent of practices are still not offering extended hours. The aim of extended hours, much trumpeted by the Scottish Government, was to improve access to routine GP appointments outside of normal hours, to help working people who found it difficult to see their doctor in the day. But early indications are that the scheme is not having this desired effect.

The insider said: "The bottom line is they are saying this is a success. But in an NHS crying out for resources, this is not the best use of money.

"We are seeing the same people who would come during the day – the elderly and those wanting sick lines – in the evening slots.

"It is not improving the service. It is just a mess."

The GP said the 52 per cent take-up figure had only been reached because health boards had been more flexible in how it was delivered.

Initially, boards were expected to survey patients to find out when they wanted extended hours to be offered.

The doctor said this had been quietly dropped, allowing surgeries to choose when to open and on what days.

But he said many doctors were offering extended hours under duress as failing to do so would mean the loss of a significant amount of cash they need to provide other services.

The doctor said the way the Scottish Government had gone about implementing extended hours had bred resentment among GPs and led to a loss of goodwill.

"To say this is a success is stretching the reality," he said.

"This has not done anything apart from allow (Ms Sturgeon] to say that 52 per cent of surgeries are now offering extended hours.

"This will not tell us if services are improving or that patient experience is improving."

Implementing future policies in primary care may prove even more difficult for the Scottish Government given the reaction to extended hours. The medical profession has a long memory.