Patients wanting same-day doctors appointments can now pay for them at a Maidstone GP surgery - but not if they are already registered there.

Cobtree Medical Practice in Sutton Valence is the first in the area to offer 15-minute face-to-face consultations through Doctaly, a new Uber-style online service.

Slots are available during normal working hours, out-of-hours, and at weekends, with NHS doctors seeing private patients around their contracted NHS time.

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The partners at the South Street practice, Dr Sara Butler-Gallie and Dr Michael Heber, are both running additional consultations through Doctaly, but cannot see any of their 2,400 NHS patients using it, due to contract constraints.

They were keen to point out the ‘on demand’ slots would not affect the number of appointments available to registered patients.

During the week patients will pay between £39.99 and £49.99 for a 15-minute session, or £69.99 for consultations out of hours and at weekends.

This money is paid directly to the practice, and managers can spend it how they see fit.

Dr Butler-Gallie said: “Seeing patients privately, outside of our NHS obligations, allows us to raise income to put back into the practice to further develop services and improve care for our NHS patients.

“It is a valuable additional service designed to run in tandem with a patient’s relationship with their own GP, which remains crucial and valuable.

"Seeing patients privately allows us to raise income to put back into the practice to improve care for our NHS patients" - Dr Sara Butler-Gallie

"The service does not allow GPs to access medical records, so Doctaly patients are advised to bring a list of their regular medications to appointments.

The service has been criticised however, with the National Health Action Party (NHA) labelling it “a slippery slope to privatisation.”

An NHA spokesman said: “What people need and deserve is high quality NHS general practice, free at the point of use and accessible to everyone who needs it.

“For that to happen we need proper funding and an increase in GPs and practice staff.

“It is within the power of the government to make this happen. It must reverse the funding squeeze on general practice and let it flourish once again.

“Private services like Doctaly are not the answer.”