Shropshire GPs 'offended' by PM's comments in seven day surgeries call
A leading Shropshire GP says the county's doctors will be "hugely offended" by comments from Downing Street as the Prime Minister revealed plans for surgeries to open from 8am to 8pm seven days a week.
Dr Ian Rummens, secretary of Shropshire's Local Medical Committee, which represents the county's GPs, made the comments after it emerged that the Government could withdraw funding from practices if they do not offer appointments within those hours unless they can prove the demand is not there.
The move is intended to alleviate pressure on the country's under–strain A&E departments.
A Downing Street spokesman said: "Most GPs do a fantastic job, and have their patients' interests firmly at heart.
"However, it is increasingly clear that a large number of surgeries are not providing the access that patients need – and that patients are suffering as a result because they are then forced to go to A&E to seek care.
"It's also bad for hospitals, who then face additional pressure on their services."
The Government has also pointed to audit office statistics from 2015 which it says show that 18 per cent of GPs' practices closed at 3pm on one day a week.
Dr Rummens, who has been at Cambrian Medical Practice in Oswestry for 34 years, said the real issue facing the country's hospitals is a lack of funding. He also warned that GPs are already at breaking point over the hours they work.
He said: "I think most GPs will be hugely offended by what Theresa May has said.
"Nobody, certainly in Shropshire, closes at 3pm. You are not allowed to do that and no one does. I am staggered.
"I really would like to see the basis for the audit commissioner's statistics. Most GPs are doing 12 hours a day just to get through the work."
