A raft of new measures to tackle poor patient access to Islington’s doctors have been put forward by town hall health chiefs.

Plans include longer surgery opening hours – including evenings and weekends - online appointment bookings and letting nurses sign off sick notes for school and work.

The proposals are the result of almost three years of work by Islington Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee.

Cllr Martin Klute, chair of the committee, said: “This came from anecdotal evidence that people were struggling to get appointments with their GP.

“The strong feeling among committee members was that this was probably true.

“I think these measures could do lot.

“What’s clear is that there is not one clear solution, but a number of different things we can do to help the situation.

“Fairly simple things like making sure there enough staff on at crucial times and allowing people to book appointments six weeks in advance could make a really difference.”

Other proposals include more training for receptionists, ensuring patients with long terms conditions keep the same doctor and monitoring how well surgeries are performing.

The plans will now go before Islington Council’s ruling executive, then a meeting of the full council for final approval.