Government plans to force family doctors to open during the evenings and weekends have provoked fury among Bradford GPs.

Doctors say being forced to open for evening sessions and at weekends, as proposed by the Government, would harm the most vulnerable patients and affect the quality of care.

The Government wants surgeries to open for an extra half an hour for every 1,000 patients in blocks of one and a half hours. For an average practice with 6,000 patients, this would mean an extra three hours a week.

Dr John Givans, joint chief executive of the Local Medical Committee for Bradford and Airedale and North Yorkshire, a body which represents local GPs said the Government was holding a gun to their heads.

He said the targets were "politically inspired" with a low priority being given to improving the quality of care for patients.

He added no new money to resource the longer hours was being offered, for example to pay nurses and practice staff, and existing money would be recycled.

"For nearly three months the national representatives of NHS GPs have been involved in detailed negotiations with the NHS employers, aimed at coming to a UK-wide agreement on extending opening hours in the evenings and at weekends," he said.

"The Government has rejected the doctors' own proposals for offering longer hours and is instead threatening to impose a draconian contract if GPs won't agree to the deal on the table.

"The GPs' national representatives have said that the Government's current proposals on extended hours cannot be accepted because doctors believe it will adversely affect the most vulnerable patients, the elderly, the long-term sick and the very young.

"The vast majority of patients and in particular those with chronic diseases or mothers with young children, prefer to come to surgeries during the day.

"They will be the ones who lose out if GPs are forced to work differently.

"These proposals by the Government are part of its wider agenda to deprive patients of their local GP, herd those doctors who remain in NHS general practice into one large town centre polyclinic, cut costs, reduce the quality of service and seriously inconvenience patients.

"Before patients become aware of what is happening GP services will go the way of dental services - it will be difficult for find a NHS GP."

Dr Barbara Hakin, who is chairman of the NHS Employers' negotiating team and former chief executive of the former Bradford South and West Primary Care Trust, said she was disappointed with the reaction.

"We wanted GPs to provide around three hours' extra appointment time per practice, per week to provide greater convenience for patients," she said.

"We feel that this offer is fair to patients, fair to GPs and fair to the public purse, which were always the aim of our discussions."