A PILOT scheme in Bury to give people seven day access to a doctor is to be rolled out to the rest of the county.

Everyone in Greater Manchester needing medical help will have access to primary care services seven days a week by the end of the year, say health chiefs.

Since February this year, more than 5,000 patients in Bury have been able to see a doctor after work, at weekends and during bank holidays as part of the trial project.

The scheme is staffed on a rotating basis by 30 of Bury's GP practices and differs to the established out-of-hours service run by Bardoc because doctors are able to access patients' medical records wherever they choose an appointment.

Under the scheme, funded to the tune of £2.7 million from the Prime Minister's Challenge Fund, patients registered with most Bury GP practices can contact their practice in the usual way where they can choose to attend any of the five locations providing the service, between 6.30pm and 8pm on weekdays and between 8am and 6pm at weekends and bank holidays. The service is provided by Bury GP Federation.

Last year, as part of the Healthier Together consultation process, a commitment was made that, by the end of 2015, anyone living in Greater Manchester who needs medical help will have same-day access to primary care services, supported by diagnostic tests, seven days a week.

The success of the Bury scheme led to an announcement last week that all areas of Greater Manchester are on course to be covered by the end of 2015.

Currently, 500,000 people in Greater Manchester can access primary care services seven days a week, but increasing coverage across the county aims to help two million people not already covered by a seven-day scheme.

Ian Williamson, chief officer for Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Devolution, said: “We now have a tremendous opportunity to build on established good practice and learning in Greater Manchester, so that we can close the health inequalities gap between our region and the rest of the UK.

"Devolution hasn’t created these new seven-day systems of working — but it can help to propel those results quicker across Greater Manchester."