Sainsbury’s is set to become the UK’s first supermarket chain to provide shoppers with an out-of-hours GP clinic in one of its stores .
From next month, patients from three nearby surgeries will be able to book evening and weekend appointments with doctors working from a new a consultation room at the Sainsburys store in Heaton Park, Greater Manchester .
The move is part of a £126,000 pilot by the Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Primary Care Trust to provide extended-hours medical care for NHS patients in the area.
Customers will now be able to book appointments at the surgery – through their registered GP practice – between 6.30pm and 9pm on Monday and Thursday, and between 11am and 3pm on Saturdays.
The supermarket clinic will be staffed by doctors from private company Doctors in Store during the six-month pilot, due to start on 3 March. Doctors In Store already has four GPs signed up and another four in reserve.
The GPs will work at the store in addition to their regular hours at local surgeries in Heywood and Middleton and will have full secure access to patient medical details and be able to make referrals or update records, just like a regular GP.
Two other out-of-hours services are also likely to be opened in Rochdale town centre during the trial scheme, while Asda is also thought to be considering opening an out-of-hours GP surgery at its store in Hounslow, west London .
Sainsbury’s, Britain’s third largest grocer, first announced plans for an in-store GP surgery back in February 2006.
Last year, the Government said supermarkets and other private companies were being invited to run GP surgeries as part of a drive to improve access to health care in deprived areas.
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