PROPOSALS by the Prime Minister to make GP surgeries open at weekends have met with a sceptical reaction from doctors.

York GP Dr David Fair, of Jorvik Medical Practice in Stonebow, said everyone was in favour of increasing patients' access to services, but he believed David Cameron's pledge at the Conservative Party Conference change risked exacerbating an existing shortage of GPs.

He said older doctors were retiring early, others were emigrating to New Zealand or Australia, and younger ones were choosing not to go into general practice, and enforcing weekend opening without increasing capacity would mean even fewer doctors being available on weekdays, when demand was greatest.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association's GP committee, echoed his comments, saying: "GPs naturally wish to improve access to patients. But this announcement does not address the current reality of what patients and GPs are facing.

"We need immediate solutions to the extreme pressures that GP practices are facing, with inadequate numbers of GPs and practice staff to manage increasing volume of patients, who are already having to wait too long for care."

The Prime Minister has promised "many more" family doctors after the general election in order to deliver the pledge of extended-hours access to a GP seven days a week for every NHS patient in England.

He said 8am-8pm opening, weekdays and weekends, was already in place for seven million patients after the launch last year of a £50 million fund in selected surgeries.