Margaret McCartney: Jeremy Hunt should follow his own advice on emergency care

Jeremy Hunt recently told the House of Commons, “I took my own children to an A&E department at the weekend precisely because I did not want to wait until later on to take them to see a GP. “People do not always know whether the care that they need is urgent or whether it is an emergency, and making GPs available at the weekends will relieve a lot of pressure in A&E departments.”1 Here is the news, health secretary: GPs already work out of hours. Some work on the weekend, early mornings, and evenings of the “extended hours” contract.2 And some work when surgeries are closed, usually in cooperatives. Fifteen years ago I worked in a general …