Demand for seven-day GP service overestimated, study finds

[Northerner]

Patient demand for a seven-day GP service has been overestimated and it is 'simply not true' to claim that stretching access over weekends is the key to improving NHS care, Nottingham academics have warned.

A report by Nottingham University Business School's centre for health innovation, leadership and learning (CHILL) looked at GP access pilots in the city and evaluated patient demand for seven-day care.

Polling carried out as part of the study found that patients wanted quick - ideally same-day - access to GP appointments, but that they did not express a strong preference for seven-day services.

The study assessed three 'weekend hub' GP access pilots in Nottingham and found low take-up of urgent care appointments. At one hub, take-up of weekend and bank holiday urgent care appointments was just 22%, falling to 18% on Sundays.

http://www.gponline.com/demand-seven-day-gp-service-overestimated-study-finds/article/1421922

 

[grovesy]

I am sure a read somewhere that they found similar things in Manchester, that Saturday appointments were popular but the uptake of Sunday ones were poor.

 

[PhoebeC]

Makes sense to me, Sundays are not a day I personally would want to go. Totally up for Saturdays though.

 

[FergusC]

I am sure a read somewhere that they found similar things in Manchester, that Saturday appointments were popular but the uptake of Sunday ones were poor.

Even though we are drifting toward a "secular society" most feel that "Sunday is special" also remember that until the mid 1800s Saturdays were not a "normal" day off!