Many want to keep Saturday surgeries

A number of GPs are considering continuing Saturday morning surgeries even after they have opted out of their 24-hour responsibility, Pulse's survey finds.

Some 15 per cent of GPs said they were thinking about working on Saturday mornings, even though they may not be paid for the extra work.

But the figure represents a drop from 65 per cent of practices that said they currently offer a Saturday surgery.

Dr Adrian Canale-Parola, a GP in Rugby, Warwickshire, said his practice would consider offering a Saturday morning surgery as an enhanced service to take pressure off the new out-of-hours provider. He said: 'If all the practices opt out of Saturday mornings there will be a burden on whatever system was put in.'

Dr Andy Jordan, a GP in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, said he could get paperwork done and ease the workload on Monday mornings.

'We felt it would be financially punishing for the co-op to cover it and we quite enjoy working at a less stressful pace on a Saturday,' he added.