More GP surgeries in Wales are open for longer

22 Feb 2017 02:43 PM

New figures show that more GP practices in Wales are open between 8.00am and 6.30pm in the week and more appointments are being made available to patients early in the morning and later in the day.    

In 2016: 

• 85% of GP practices were open for daily core hours or within an hour of them, an increase from 60% in 2011
• Only 3% of GP practices were closed for half a day on one or more week days, a decrease compared to 4% in 2015 
• 84% of practices offered appointments at any time between 17:00 and 18:30 every week day, compared to 79% in 2015
• The percentage of practices offering appointments before 8:30 on at least two weekdays increased from 16% in 2015 to 19% in 2016.  

Health Secretary Vaughan Gething said: 

“We know that access to primary care services is extremely important to people. In Taking Wales Forward, our programme for government, we committed to continuing to improve access to GP surgeries, and these figures demonstrate we are delivering this. These figures also show that more appointments are available for people at more convenient times. I am pleased to see that the trend of improvement has been continued for 2016. 

“I want to say thank you to our GPs and their teams who are working hard to extend their opening hours in Wales.  They are also working with other health professionals to ensure that people receive their care from the right person. This might mean seeing a pharmacist, physiotherapist or a nurse. This will allow GPs to focus their time and expertise on people with complex care needs. We will continue to work collaboratively with GPs and other professions to improve access and patient experience.”