Why do most GP surgeries and health centres close on a Friday evening and do not re-open until Monday morning?
20 December 2021
Why do most GP surgeries and health centres close on a Friday evening and do not re-open until Monday morning?
It
is common for us to hear from older people that they cannot get to
speak to their GP surgery or health centre. They call when advised,
usually after 8 am and find they are already at the end of a long queue.
People in front can commonly be 15 or more and we did hear of one caller
being advised they were 77th in the queue.
There is evidence that surgeries no longer accept online/email contact over the weekend.There
is 111 who can be extremely helpful but cannot book an appointment or a
telephone call with your surgery for you, there are walk-in centres,
but these are not of much use if you live a distance away and have
mobility problems.Care providers, hospitals and many other health care businesses operate 7 days and nights a week.However,
since 2004 most GP surgeries have become private businesses, do not
have to be owned by a GP or by someone in the care sector, and there,
does the problem lie?