THE practice of making GPs open their surgeries for longer hours must be urgently reviewed, doctors' leaders said yesterday after the scheme was branded a "PR exercise".

A British Medical Association (BMA) conference heard that extended hours were a waste of NHS resources.

The head of Scotland's GPs, Dean Marshall, called for the Scottish Government to urgently evaluate the policy.

He accused ministers of relying on politically driven targets when they should be focused on policies backed up by evidence that they worked.

Nicola Sturgeon, the health secretary, defended the policy, saying there was demand from patients for extended hours.

Dr Marshall, addressing the BMA's Scottish local medical committees conference in Clydebank, questioned whether the longer hours were really improving access for patients who would struggle to see them during a normal working day.

"So far, anecdotal evidence suggests that in urban areas, appointments are filled by those who could come during the day – the elderly, the unemployed, the long-term sick – while in rural areas, appointments are not taken up and GPs sit in empty buildings waiting for a 'demand' that doesn't exist," he said.

"In these difficult financial times is it really appropriate for us to be wasting resources on what is effectively a PR exercise?"

Dr Marshall also criticised plans to remove health visitors working in GP surgeries – doctors in Glasgow had already successfully campaigned for the plan to be put on hold there.

He also expressed concern over the failure of the vaccination programme for cervical cancer to deal with girls who had already left school, saying the programme should have been organised nationally rather than passed down to health boards.

Dr Marshall also said he wanted doctors and patients to play a part in deciding the future of general practice.

"I am not sure we can always reconcile the two, but by raising the debate it will demonstrate clearly the reality of providing a comprehensive service within a limited budget," he said.

The conference also heard from GPs concerned about the demands on practices at a time of limited resources.

Dr Tommy Malloch, a GP in Ayrshire and Arran, said it would be irresponsible for a government to finance health initiatives at a time of recession.

He said: "The consequences of this recession is that there may be mass unemployment, debt default, social disintegration, and all that will have an impact and demand on our services which still remains seeing patients."

Ms Sturgeon defended the measures the Scottish Government had put in place to improve access for patients.

"Thousands of working people are now benefiting from improved GP access," she said. "The decision to offer extended opening hours is taken voluntarily by the surgery and the fact that 60 per cent of practices are now offering this service shows quite clearly there is demand."

Other debates backed by doctors yesterday included calls for patients to receive cancer treatments appropriate for them regardless of their ability to pay a top-up fee.

Dr Tricia Donald, a Lothian GP, said: "We feel that all patients should be able to have access to these alternative treatments if their clinician feels they may have the possibility to benefit."

The BMA also backed calls for further safeguards and audits on patients' emergency care summaries – electronic records of basic health information – to make sure they were not accessed inappropriately.