NHS England to publish GP extended hours access ratings

From November, NHS England will publish details of practices' responses to a series of questions about their evening and weekend opening and give each practice a classification.

Practices will be classified into categories from 'full extended access' down to lower levels of access.

Data collected will gauge the extent to which practices themselves offer extended access, and the extent to which they offer it through local networks of practices. Responses to the questions will allow NHS England to identify practices that are not part of any wider group or network.

GP opening hours

Participation in the data collection is mandatory - GP practices in England are contractually required to submit data on their extended hours opening under changes introduced in the 2016/17 contract.

Data will be collected every six months in four-week windows, the first of which opens today and runs until 31 October. Practices should normally respond to questions on availability of pre-bookable appointments based on the final week of the reporting window, unless this happens to be an 'exceptional' week - in which case they should use the nearest 'normal' week, according to NHS England guidance.

Practices must respond to the following questions:

Questions on individual practices:

1. Do patients have the option of accessing pre-bookable Saturday appointments at your practice?
2. Do patients have the option of accessing pre-bookable Sunday appointments at your practice?
3. Do patients have the option of accessing pre-bookable early morning appointments (before 8.00am) during the week at your practice?
   1. If "YES" to question 3, on which weekdays does your practice provide pre-bookable early morning appointments? (Tick those that apply).
4. Do patients have the option of accessing pre-bookable evening appointments (after 6.30pm) during the week at your practice?
1. If "YES" to question 4, on which weekdays does your practice provide pre-bookable evening appointments? (Tick those that apply).

Questions on wider networks/groups:

5. What is the name of the group of which your practice is a member, for example this could be the name of your federation?
6. Do patients have the option of accessing pre-bookable Saturday appointments through your group?
7. Do patients have the option of accessing pre-bookable Sunday appointments through your group?
8. Do patients have the option of accessing pre-bookable early morning appointments (before 8.00am) during the week through your group?
   1. If "YES" to question 8, on which weekdays does your group provide pre-bookable early morning appointments? (Tick those that apply).
9. Do patients have the option of accessing pre-bookable evening appointments (after 6.30pm) during the week through your group?
   1. If "YES" to question 9, on which weekdays does your group provide pre-bookable evening appointments? (Tick those that apply).