IT would be so helpful if we only ever became ill during office hours. Life would be so much more straightforward if we only suffered heart attacks, fell and broke our limbs or suffered a nasty bout of food poisoning between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday.

Sadly, real life is not so accommodating.

Serious illnesses are not restricted to the working week, so why should our doctors?

The Government thinks they should be flexible. David Cameron said last year that he wanted to see GP surgeries opening on evenings and at weekends.

We are pleased GPs in North Yorkshire and Darlington will be among the first to receive extra Government funds to extend their opening hours so patients can see a GP at a time to suit them.

We live in a 24/7 society. From listening to music on our phones, to streaming movies on television and tweeting our thoughts via social media, consumers expect instant gratification.

An extra few million will not make the NHS compatible with this expectation.

Nationally, according to the Royal College of GPs, seven-day working will require 10,000 more doctors, and a similar number of nurses, at a cost of more than £1bn.

No wonder critics say the pilot schemes are mere gesture politics – a sticking plaster for a patient who needs intensive care.

However, something has to be done. Otherwise, there is a real danger of hospital accident and emergency departments being overwhelmed by patients who have nowhere else to go out of hours.

GPs are ready to play their part by embracing new technology, holding virtual consultations via video-links, using email and mobile phone apps. A telephone consultation scheme trailed in Swindon found GPs could treat three times as many patients in the time it normally took to see just one face-to-face.

Patients, too, need to be realistic.

Ask yourself: do you really need to discuss haemorrhoids with your doctor on a Saturday evening, when a visit to a pharmacist would be just as effective?

Otherwise, your GP might be tied-up the next time you really are ill – whatever the time of day.