HEALTH bosses in Gwent are set to spend almost £400,000 this year in supporting GP surgeries to provide longer opening hours.

Surgeries that have achieved a 5A rating through Aneurin Bevan Health Board’s recently introduced A is for Access scheme will be paid extra to open outside the core hours of 8am-6.30pm.

The payments will be made through an extensive programme of what are known as enhanced services – morespecialist work not always provided by all GP practices.

Extended opening hours will provide extra GP and nurse appointments, to help minimise waiting times for patients and help those who find it difficult to take up appointments during their normal working day.

Payment will be £150 an hour, and provision will be dependent upon the size of a practice’s patients list.

Practices with lists of up to 5,000 patients will be expected to provide one hour of additional opening time, those with up to 10,000 patients two hours, those with 15,000 three hours, and those with up to 20,000 four hours.

Twenty-six of Gwent’s 91 GP surgeries currently meet the necessary standard for a 5A rating, with more working toward achieving it.

The A is for Access scheme awards practices with A or B ratings for access based on five criteria: measuring opening hours, telephone availability, and ease of booking an appointment.

The scheme covers access to appointments only, and is not intended as an indicator of the quality of clinical or other services provided.

The health board expects to spend £397,800 on improved access as an enhanced service during 2012/13.

Potentially, close to £5.6million will be spent in Gwent on enhanced services at GP practices this year. Other such services include provision of selected minor surgery, management of increased numbers of patients with diabetes in primary care, and improved quality of care for patients in care homes.