Sunday surgery: How one GP practice is managing a seven-day service

It is 9.30am on a Sunday morning and patients have started arriving for their appointments at Birmingham's Enki Medical Practice.

There are only 18 slots available with GPs and all of them are booked up by Thursday.

The patients who managed to get one are pleased to take advantage of the service.

"It's difficult for me to get time off work," said lecturer Jacqui Lindsay.

"I wasn't aware that they were open on a Sunday, so when I needed to book my appointment and I was given the Sunday option, it was better for me.

"It's difficult if I don't get to work to get someone to cover the class, so I'd have to take time off work."

It was at this same surgery, in May 2015, that former prime minister David Cameron gave a speech on plans for seven-day health services.

As well as opening for three hours on Saturday and Sunday, the surgery is open till 8pm on Thursday.

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The National Audit Office says that between 2015 and 2016, just 2.5% of GP surgeries in England were open on a Sunday. The figure rises to 21.5% on Saturday.

Prime Minister Theresa May wants a seven-day service rolled out across all practices unless they can prove demand is not there.

The Enki Medical Practice is run by Modality, an organisation which oversees operations at around 20 GP surgeries in the Birmingham area.

They centralise parts of the GP service, such as call centres and paperwork duties, allowing them to spend money on running a seven-day surgery.

Dr Will Murdoch, who works the Sunday shift, said: "I think if it was just me, working alone without colleagues to support me, it would be incredibly difficult to try to support a service like this."

Dr Murdoch was critical of those in government who blame GPs for adding pressure on other NHS services such as A&E.

He said: "I think it's really unhelpful to single out any one part of the system to blame for what's going on in an incredibly complex organisation like the NHS.

"GPs are working incredibly hard, so are the hospitals, social care, the voluntary sector; we're all trying to do our best for patients, and to say it's the fault of any one group is incredibly unhelpful for what is becoming a very demoralised workforce."