GP's agree to extended hours

GP's have now agreed to work either till 8.00pm on two days or from 9.30am and 11.30am on Saturdays.

The Independent in its report wrote that the GP's have caved in. This wording suggests that it thinks they gave in too easily or went against their principles. This doesn't seem to be saying that they think the government were wrong to put pressure on GPs although the story does report the opinions of GPs which say that the Government's strong-arm tactics had been "unacceptable".

The BBC's wording looks at the story from the GPs point of view, the opening paragraph focusing on the fact that GPs have given ministers a huge vote of no confidence.

The Times in the opening paragraph uses the word bulldozed to describe how the government went about 'persuading' GP's to agree. I think this suggests that the Times disapproves of the way that the government went about working out a deal with GPs.

The Times also quotes Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA’s GP committee, she said "We want patients to be happy with the service they get from GPs, but it will only work if GPs feel they can trust the Government not to bully and micro-manage them all the time."

The Telegraph emphasises the degree to which GPs are angered at the way the government treated them, using the headline 'Furious GPs agree to extend surgery hours.' I think this suggests that they want to try to make trouble for the government and take advantage of anything negative which concerns the government.

Essentially all the reports comment on the fact that the government effectively forced GPs to accept this deal but they each look at it from a different angle, which usually mirrors their political positions.