The Prime Minister's Challenge Fund was established in October 2013 with £50 million for NHS England to help improve access to general practice and stimulate innovative ways of providing primary care services.
It's a good deal for GPs, but, according to him, poor value for money because demand for primary care "typically starts quite high at 8am but tails off through the day and by 6 pm is very light" if there is sufficient supply during the day.
[4] A YouGov poll in June 2015[5] found the highest priorities for the general public were care for the elderly and access to GPs at weekends.
An investigation by Pulse (magazine) in July 2015 found that many seven-day GP access pilot areas had reduced their extended hours in light of poor demand.
[6] Richard Murray of the King's Fund hopes that working differently, on the basis of the pilot schemes (rather than just working harder) may hold the key to problems of access to primary care.