LAUSR

General practices in England will not be forced to open seven days a week despite recent threats from Number 10 that they might lose funding if they didn’t extend their hours, NHS England’s chief executive, Simon Stevens, has told The BMJ. Recent reports in the national press said that the prime minister, Theresa May, was prepared to withhold funding allotted for extended opening hours unless general practices could prove that they were telling their patients about additional appointment slots and offering appointments at convenient times.1 The intervention prompted an angry backlash from GPs,2 who accused the government of …