On Monday 23 April, Richard Harrington MP confirmed that funding has been secured to increase the number of GP appointments available to Watford residents. Patients registered at all 26 GP practices in Watford will be offered weekend appointments this year.
Richard Harrington MP said:
"I have been working closely with the local Clinical Commissioning Group for some time to get this through and thank them for providing additional weekend GP appointments. I think this will really help with pressure on A&E and help those patients who find it difficult to get to see their GP during the week.
This additional funding means that a patient registered at any GP practice in Watford can get an appointment on the weekend if they need it, creating an extra 340 GP appointments every week. That's over 17,000 extra appointments this year!
In 2014, I appealed for funding from the Prime Minister's Challenge Fund to set up a pilot in Watford for evening and weekend appointments. It was so successful that I helped to secure further funding to expand that to the whole of Watford- including Abbots Langley!"
Dr Kevin Barrett, a GP in Watford and Three Rivers said:
“Herts Valleys CCG has provided additional funding so that we can now offer weekend GP appointment to all patients registered with a practice in Watford or Three Rivers. We have been offering this service at 11 practices since 2014 as part of as part of funds awarded to us from the pilot Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund. Being able to extend this out widely is great news for local people.”