Response to PM's announcement to extend GP opening hours

Responding to the Prime Minister’s announcement today that patients will be able to see their GP seven days a week and out of office hours, Professor Norman Williams, President of the Royal College of Surgeons, said:

‘These new proposals are a positive step towards easing the current concerns over the quality of out of hours care. Patients rightly expect to be able to have an appointment outside the normal 9 to 5 day. But this needs to go hand in hand with far better use of modern communications, including Skype and email consultations which can remove the pressure off services and be a more responsive approach. Medicine has to be open to new ways of thinking about how to deliver care.’

Notes to editors

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