GPs will be expected to offer appointments on Saturdays and weekday evenings as part of new plans set out by NHS England.
As part of new "enhanced access" arrangements outlined in a letter to every GPs practice in the country, each local hub of surgeries – also known as Primary Care Networks (PCNs) - will be required to the offer out-of-hours services from October.
As well as seeing a family doctor or a nurse, patients will also be able to access other services at these times - including screening, vaccinations and health checks.
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At the moment, out-of-hours GP appointments are commissioned on an area-wide basis by CCGs - the changes would see GP surgeries take more direct responsibility for this.
Each practice will also be required to make more appointments available to book online - an NHS England letter says this will apply to "all appointments which do not require triage".
The letter sets out changes to the contracts for GPs around the country - but some medics have expressed "bitter disappointment" over the plans.
The letter's writers - the director and medical directors of primary care for NHS England Dr Ursula Montgomery and Dr Nikita Kanani - said: "The new enhanced access arrangements aim to remove variability across the country and improve patient understanding of the service."
And they added that the move is "in line with patient preference and need", while telling medics: "Expanding primary care capacity remains a top priority."
Evening and weekend appointments would not necessarily be available at a patient's usual GPs practice - as PCNs would likely be expected to rotate which practices covered the out-of-hours services.
Drs Montgomery and Kanani said a scheme for PCNs to hire staff including physios, social prescribing link workers and pharmacists would continue to expand: "The amount available for PCNs to recruit additional staff will increase as promised by£280 million to just over £1 billion for 2022/23."
However, top doctors have expressed “bitter disappointment” over the GP contract changes.
The British Medical Association said it has been in negotiations with the health service about the contract changes but the letter setting them out had been published before an agreement had been reached.
Dr Farah Jameel, the BMA's England GP committee chair, said: "We are bitterly disappointed that NHS England has chosen to ignore the appeals from the profession and the needs of patients in the letter.
"Despite our best efforts to outline a number of positive and constructive solutions that would make a difference to practices’ ability to improve care for patients, NHS England has instead decided to follow a path laid out three years ago, long before the arrival of Covid-19, and roll over a contract that fails to address the current pressures faced by general practice."
But Dr Nikki Kanani, who is also a GP, said: “Our general practice teams have been working flat out throughout the pandemic to care for patients, and it is their huge efforts that have meant the NHS could protect millions of people at speed through the Covid-19 vaccination programme."
