THE positive impact which extended GP hours is having for patients in Radcliffe has been recognised.

Since January this year, almost 200,000 patients across the borough have enjoyed the option of seeing a doctor in the evenings, at weekends and on bank holidays.

This was made possible by funding awarded to Bury GP Federation by the Prime Minister’s GP Access Fund in April 2014.

A GP Access Fund report just published confirms that extended access is helping working people from across Bury to access GP appointments, at times convenient to them.

The report evaluated that patients had responded enthusiastically to the availability of appointments from 6.30am to 8pm Monday to Friday and from 8am to 6pm on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays, with most of the additional appointments regularly being filled.

Evening and weekend appointments are provided from five borough-wide health centres which can be booked through their own GP practice.

But the report cited the positive collaboration of GP practices in Bury, working together since 2012 under the banner of Bury GP Federation, as key to the pilot project's success.

This has included the ability to make the health records of all patients accessible from each of the five health centres.

Also recognised by the report was the model adopted by the federation for delivering extended GP hours. Offering appointments from five hubs located across the borough has been deemed to "work well" in Bury and the hub model has been recommended as the preferred one for other areas rolling out extended hours’ services.

Dr Peter Thomas, medical director of Bury GP Federation and practising Bury GP, said: “We set out to make GP appointments more accessible for patients, particularly parents, carers and people who work, fitting in around their busy lives.”

“We are very proud of the pace and scale of what we have achieved and that we are now offering truly flexible options for people in Bury who otherwise would have struggled to see a doctor. We are delighted that our hard work has been recognised by the evaluation report.”

“We wish to continue providing flexible high-quality GP services to all our Bury residents and we are working with local partners to explore funding options to will allow us to continue to do this.”