THE Government is squaring up to GPs over surgery opening hours.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson has written to every GP in the country, urging them to accept proposals for weekend and evening opening.

The Government wants surgeries to open for an extra 30 minutes for every 1,000 patients on the books.

That would mean the average surgery being open an extra three hours a week.

GPs, however, claim the proposals are too inflexible, and that they would require them to work extra hours for less pay.

Family doctors have, perhaps unfairly, come in for some criticism since a generous settlement in 2004.

The average GP is now said to earn £100,000 a year.

Many people may say for that money they should expect to work a few extra hours.

GPs, however, clearly feel aggrieved, pointing out they do a hugely difficult and responsible job.

They are willing to work extended hours they say, but don't see why they should be paid less for doing so.

Certainly, there is a whiff of Government bullying in the way the Department of Health has been making full copies of Mr Johnson's letter to GPs freely available to journalists who ask for it.

At the end of the day, however, this should not be a matter of money.

It is about making it easier for patients to see their GP.

Many of us work full-time - and taking time off in the middle of a working day to see a doctor is not easy.

Speaking on the telephone to a doctor you don't know is not the same.

In the 21st century, it seems crazy that no one can work out a system that means surgeries are open at times when most patients will be able to use them.