GPs should do more to offer their patients choice, the business lobby group has demanded.

It's all very well the DDG of the CBI having a dig at GP and talking about patient's needs, when he means wants. It's time the public sector and government had a rational discussion about the appropriate definition of need and want as the 2 are interchanged regularly to score political points. My experience in Nottingham is that patients want a choice of date and time of appointment more than choice of provider. The fact that patient's don't recall the offer of choice does not mean it hasn't been discussed in the right context.

I agree that people now want 'supermarket' healthcare - appontments at times and on days convenient to them, irregardless of what time that may be!  A lot of OOH calls are from patients that have either not been able to get the appointment they want, or have just decided to wait until it is convenient for them to contact their doctor. 

Patients alwys have choice, and the reason they may not get the appointment they want is because they stipulate which doctor they want to see rather than just accepting an appointment with another doctor.  It is only possible to offer so much choice depending on the particular resource available.

The situation is becoming worse because of the political points trying to be scored by encouraging this 'open all hours' mentality rather than dealing with the real problems.