It is often very difficult to get a doctor’s appointment at your local GP surgery – many people will have had experience of trying to ring in from 8am to find everyone else is doing the same and appointments are booked up within minutes.

Holiday periods such as the one we are now entering can be especially taxing for both patients and surgeries – with fewer working days the available appointment slots are even harder to secure.

But GP practices across Bradford are opening extra hours this festive period to help people who are in need of a doctor over the Christmas break, thanks to extra funding from NHS England.

Many GPs are opening specially next Saturday and some will even be working on Boxing Day, which will be a boon to anyone who falls ill over the coming week.

The extra opening times should also help to ease the strain on emergency departments at Bradford Royal Infirmary and Airedale Hospital. Our hospitals are already stretched with the usual winter pressures.

In the absence of an open GPs’ surgery, many people have historically felt they had no option but to present at accident and emergency, even if their illness or complaint is not a job for the casualty department.

The extra opening hours over Christmas should hopefully mean that people who have worrying but not emergency medical problems can get them seen to without adding extra stresses and strains on A&E, or calling an ambulance which might be needed in a life-or-death situation.

Of course, we can help ourselves by staying safe over Christmas and ensuring that we stock up on basic medical supplies and medicines as well as festive fare.