Can we get the facts right? Under the new General Medical Services contract, GP surgeries are required to be open for longer, Monday to Friday, than under the previous contract. The "normal" time is from 8am-6.30pm, and those surgeries which close at the historic time of 6pm do so at a financial cost which is paid to the out-of-hours service; but we are all now at work at least half an hour earlier in the morning. Is a 10-hour day not enough?

With regard to weekends, the only time lost, in the majority of cases, was a two-hour slot on Saturday mornings and even then many of these morning surgeries had been taken over by the GP co-operatives. Before the new contract, many of us advised the then Health Minister that, instead of pouring money into an expensive new out-of-hours service, the existing co-operatives should be funded adequately and rolled out across the country. However, then, as always, politicians knew better than those who work in the service about what was needed.

I have no difficulty, in principle, with Nicola Sturgeon's vision of more flexible opening hours. All she needs are more doctors, more nurses and more reception and secretarial staff. Alternatively, I would be happy to open the surgery at midday and work until 10pm, especially in winter, when I cannot play golf in the evenings. Unfortunately, my advancing years preclude me from offering to work from 8am-10pm. The thrust of the new contract was to give doctors a reasonable work/life balance.

It is quite exciting to have a new minister who appears to have innovative ideas. However, these ideas must be tempered by the practicalities of delivery. Open discussion with the profession must be the first step on her journey. - Dr John N E Rankin, 1 Anne Drive, Bridge of Allan.

I write re your front-page story (June 12) on Nicola Sturgeon's views on primary care access for the public. I found the 9am-5pm comment unsatisfactory and inflammatory. I am in my surgery at 7.30 every morning and leave at 6pm. The only time I leave earlier is to get to my local out-of-hours gp centre to do a shift there. Access on the whole has improved greatly and the fact that we negotiated to shed 24-hour care with the Labour government was very much in the patients' interest. I would much rather see a doctor who was neither tired nor burned out were I acutely ill out of hours. The political spin has again allowed the public to believe that a bunch of greedy gps are to blame for the "disaster" that is nhs 24. However, the blame for this lies squarely at the door of our political masters.

Finally, I am a great advocate of patient choice and improved access, though if patients want supermarket opening hours, I suggest they go to their local Tesco. - Dr Robert McGonigle, Dumbarton Health Centre.

The policy of enforcing evening opening for GP surgeries is bound to be popular. We all welcome more public services, with the obvious exception of taxation. As I come towards the end of my years as a GP, I expect to be affected by this policy more as a user than as a provider of health care. I would, therefore, question the wisdom of this change. Many GPs would not object to doing their turn of evening surgery if funds were made available for staffing and security, but they cannot be expected to do this in addition to their existing workload. In the average four-doctor practice, one GP will be doing house calls while three consult during the day. For at least half of the year, this will be reduced to two by holidays, study and administrative duties. If a GP is to work in the evening, there will be one fewer available for daytime appointments.

I would expect any medical student to be able to tell me that health need is related to deprivation, unemployment and increased age. How will these groups be helped by these proposals? When there are such real needs, why are we shifting resources to the care of the working well?

Many years ago Tudor Hart proposed the "inverse care law", suggesting that the likelihood of healthcare provision was inversely proportional to a population's need. Unless new resources are poured into primary care to provide this new service, the changes will be at the expense of those who are most in need.

I would ask Ms Sturgeon to pause for thought before proceeding with this proposal, despite its obvious popular appeal. - Dr J B Miller, The Cathcart Street Practice, Ayr.