Patients are set to get easier access to GP services.

At least half of doctors' practices across the district will be required to offer extended opening times.

And Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust is currently in discussions about the location of a new health centre that will open from 8am-8pm, seven days a week, offering bookable GP appointments and walk-in services to both registered and non-registered patients.

Ten new GP surgeries have also been promised for areas where there are fewest doctors' practices.

The moves, described as the most ambitious changes to primary medical care in 60 years, are part of a national programme to deliver extended and improved access to GP services.

All PCTs in England are required to procure one GP-led health centre and the Department of Health will make revenue funding available for the 14 health centres the Yorkshire and Humber region is required to have.

Margaret Edwards, NHS Yorkshire and the Humber's chief executive, said: "We all lead busy lives and all kinds of services are now open around the clock - health care should be no different.

"Local people have been telling us, loud and clear, that they want health care that is more convenient for them and their families. I agree. You should be able to access healthcare when you want - not having to fit your life around when the doctors' surgery is open.

"These new GP-led health services will be open eight until eight, seven days a week with appointments and a walk-in service available. Work has begun to identify where these services will be located but every Primary Care Trust will have at least one centre and they will be open by 2009.

"We are also promising to open ten new GP surgeries where patients cannot presently easily access a family doctor. This will provide more GPs in areas where they are needed most.

"The NHS in Yorkshire and the Humber is committed to providing services for local people, where they are needed, when they are needed."

But the move to extend existing GPs' hours has already drawn anger from doctors when the Government suggested at the end of last year that surgeries should open for an extra half-an-hour for every 1,000 patients in blocks of one-and-a-half hours.

For an average practice with 6,000 patients, this would mean an extra three hours a week.

Dr John Givans, joint chief executive of the Local Medical Committee for Bradford and Airedale and North Yorkshire, a body which represents local GPs, branded the targets as "politically inspired" and said a low priority was being given to improving the quality of care.

He said no new money to resource the longer hours was being offered, for example to pay nurses and practice staff, and existing money would be recycled.