Theresa May has ordered GPs to offer appointments 8am to 8pm, seven days a week – or lose funding.

In a personal intervention, the Prime Minister is demanding easier access to surgeries to help tackle overcrowding in NHS hospitals.

A Daily Mail investigation revealed that patients unable to see their GP are inundating casualty units.

Nearly half of England’s hospitals were struggling so badly last week they declared ‘operational pressure alerts’. Six issued the highest level warning, where patient safety was judged to be at risk.

Thousands of GP practices close their doors on weekday afternoons, while others take a three-hour lunch break. Now they will have to open from 8am to 8pm every day, unless they can prove there is no demand for it.

They will be required to give Whitehall officials detailed information on the number and type of appointments they offer.

A Downing Street source said: ‘Most GPs…