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GPs agree to longer hours after government 'threats'
- Article from:
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The Independent - London
- Article date:
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March 7, 2008
- Author:
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Copyright informationCopyright 2008 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Family doctors' surgeries are to open for an extra three hours a
week after GPs caved in to government demands that they provide
evening and weekend services. A poll of 27,000 GPs voted in favour
of longer opening hours after pressure from the BMA, the
professional body that negotiates on behalf of doctors.
Surgeries will now have the option of opening either until 8pm on
two nights a week or between 9.30am and 11.30am on Saturdays.
But the doctors' concession came reluctantly, with 98 per cent of
those polled saying the Government's strong-arm tactics had been
"unacceptable".
The BMA has been locked in a long-running battle with ministers
over longer opening hours ever since it emerged that ...