Happy 9th birthday, GP Care Wakefield!
On 5 September, GP Care Wakefield turns nine. Since 2017, we’ve been helping people across the Wakefield district get GP appointments at times that suit them: evenings, weekends and bank holidays.
That’s worth celebrating, so thank you to everyone who has used the service, worked for us, supported us and given us feedback.
How it all started
GP Care Wakefield began in 2017 with two sites, at Trinity Medical Centre and Pontefract Hospital, offering appointments outside normal GP hours (known as Extended Access). The idea was simple – GP practices across the district wanted to give local people another way to get an appointment with a GP, nurse or other healthcare professional when they needed it.
Growing to meet Wakefield's needs
Following patient engagement in 2022, the service was redesigned around six sites across the district, backed by all seven of Wakefield’s Primary Care Networks, with a seventh site now being trialled at Station Lane in Pontefract.
The range of care has grown too. Alongside GP appointments, patients can now access nurse and healthcare assistant clinics, long-term condition reviews, blood tests, smears, wound care, NHS Health Checks, lung health checks for people who have ever smoked, and workplace health checks in communities where getting to a GP during the day is difficult.
Care in numbers
- 124,633 appointments offered and 111,070 (89%) used between July 2025 and July 2026
- 87% patient satisfaction in 2026
- 73% of patients seen do not need to return to another service within two weeks
- Grown from 2 sites in 2017 to 6, soon to be 7, today
- Rated Good by the Care Quality Commission, with results of our most recent inspection awaited
Every appointment is delivered by local clinicians and support staff giving up evenings and weekends on top of their day jobs, because they believe local people deserve care that fits around their lives.
What people say
Patients regularly tell us the service works for them, that they feel heard, and that it helps them avoid an unnecessary trip to other health care services such as hospital.
“I was very pleased that within three hours I had help [from GPCW] and a prescription left at my designated pharmacy the following day. How could you possibly improve on that!!!”
Still here for you, evenings and weekends
You can be seen:
- Monday to Friday, 5:00pm to 9:30pm
- Saturdays, 9:00am to 5:00pm (appointments running until 5:00pm)
- Sundays, 9:00am to 1:00pm
- Bank holidays, 9:00am to 3:00pm
If you’re registered with a GP practice in the Wakefield district and need an appointment outside your practice’s normal hours, contact your usual practice team, who can book you in. If your practice is closed when you call, you’ll be put straight through to us.
Here's to the next year
GP Care Wakefield is provided by Conexus Healthcare, the GP-led federation working on behalf of every GP practice in the Wakefield district. As the district grows and changes, so will we, always looking for new ways to make sure care is there when local people need it most.
Find out more about GP Care Wakefield and the practices behind it, or visit our patient information page for opening times, services and answers to common questions.
Happy birthday, GP Care Wakefield.