Evening and Saturday GP slots extend access across London
Primary care networks in London now run routine appointments beyond daytime hours, as the national Enhanced Access specification—introduced in October 2022—requires each network to provide 60 minutes of appointments per 1,000 registered patients every week in a single, coordinated schedule that includes weekday evenings and Saturday sessions.
The change folds multiple local schemes into one timetable so reception teams can book people into later slots rather than squeezing demand into the morning rush, with the contract setting core windows of 18:30–20:00 on weekdays and regular Saturday daytime capacity, allowing practices to cluster clinics across a neighbourhood rather than keeping every site open.
For patients who work shifts or juggle school runs, the extended hours remove the need to take unpaid time off or travel across the city mid-day, and the offer now appears in routine scripts at London practices: staff check the wider network’s diary first, then confirm whether an evening nurse clinic, a GP review or a blood-test slot fits better than the next free daytime appointment.
Digital routes are being used to lock in these later slots, with NHS England reporting that the NHS App passed 33 million registered users by mid-2024, giving London surgeries a second channel—besides phone lines—to push confirmations and cancellations for out-of-hours clinics within the same neighbourhood list.
Equity remains the test: practice audits show that people in the most deprived areas are more likely to rely on public transport and pay-as-you-go mobiles, so some London networks now pair the evening clinics with on-site number checks, paper reminders and reception walk-ins to avoid excluding residents who have patchy data access or irregular shifts.
Day to day, the effect is quiet but practical—an asthma review after work instead of a missed morning, a Saturday blood test that avoids another weekday journey—while managers watch whether consistent take-up of evening and weekend capacity shortens waits for routine GP and nurse appointments across the capital’s busier neighbourhoods.
