GPs could be forced to open their surgeries for longer, if government proposals are given the go-ahead.

Health secretary Alan Johnson has written to every GP in England calling on them to accept proposals for extended surgery opening hours.

These new measures would include opening later in the evenings as well as the weekend, with an average-sized practises with around 6,000 patients being open for an extra three hours per week.

"Significant numbers of patients consistently tell us that improving access to GP services should be a priority for the NHS," Mr Johnson wrote in the letter, released by the Department of Health.

"We want to work with all GPs to achieve this aim."

If an agreement cannot be reached with the doctors' union, the British Medical Association (BMA), it is thought that MPs may force a settlement.

The BMA has disagreed with the government about the need for more appointment times, citing research which shows that only four in every hundred patients wanted to visit their doctor in the evening.

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