The Government has picked a fight with GPs that it knows it can win. But it may still be gratified to find that it has a sizeable proportion of the public on its side.

Nobody quite knows why the Prime Minister became so fixated about GPs’ opening hours. Maybe he tried to see a doctor on a Saturday and found the surgery closed. Or maybe the Confederation of British Industry bent his ear.

Whatever the reason he clearly didn’t mind winning dirty. When the British Medical Association turned down one proposal, the Department of Health offered an even less palatable one.

Such victories consume political capital. And if the BMA could be seen to be carrying the public with it the loss would be greater.

But polls for The Times by Medix-Ciao suggest that patients would rather like to be able to visit GPs in the evening or on Saturdays.

A second battle looms over the idea of polyclinics, where groups of GPs would practise. Lord Darzi, the Health Minister, is promoting the idea hard, even though the exact form of these “supersurgeries” remains vague.

But the patients who were polled seemed keen on the idea. This offers the Government a chance to appeal to the public over the heads of the profession.

If so, a second defeat could be awaiting the BMA. This is tough, given that general practice in Britain causes the Government far less grief than hospitals.

The problem is that while GPs like to see themselves as independent professionals the Government sees them as a recalcitrant part of the payroll that needs taking down a peg.

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