Round the clock health services will be accessible to Dover residents by next year.

Patients will be able to see a GP, nurse or primary care professional in the evenings and at weekends, an extension from what is already available.

Doctors will also be accessible via phone, video-calling or email.

It comes from the Challenge Fund, which came into place in October 2013, when Prime Minister David Cameron announced a £50 million cash injection to improve patients’ access to their GP practices.

Of that, Dover is set to benefit from £1,894m.

The clinical chairman of NHS South Kent Coast Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), Dr Darren Cocker, said: “Thanks to collaborative partnership working between local GPs, Dover residents have been able to benefit from the Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund – and this is great news for the town.”

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said:“The NHS is moving with the times.

“By keeping in touch with how people live their lives, far more NHS services, tests and treatments will be offered closer to people’s homes at times that suit them.

“GPs have always been the foundation of the NHS and are at the centre of our plans
to move more care in to the community.

"We are supporting them to work innovatively to deliver 21st century patient care.”

An extra £46.6m in local funding will be invested in NHS to improve GP access, modernise surgeries and improve out-of-hospital care, as part of the second phase of this government’s scheme.

Care Minister Norman Lamb said: “We want to have a fairer society, and that means better care, closer to home for everyone.

“Our investment in out of hospital care will not only improve and join up services where people live, but also keep people healthier in the community for longer.”

The new Buckland hospital in Coombe Valley Road is set to open its doors in June, with a potential Royal opening in July or August.