Access to GPs seven-days-a-week, 12 hours a day will be a reality in Richmond after a £2.6m Government grant.

The Richmond General Practice Alliance has been awarded the sum from Prime Minister David Cameron's challenge fund.

The group is a partnership between all of the GP practices in the borough, Richmond Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Richmond Council.

Four primary care "hubs" will be set up to provide extended hours of GP contact time - there will be bases covering Teddington and Hampton, Twickenham and Whitton, Richmond and Kew and Barnes and Mortlake.

Dr Darren Tymens, GP at Sheen Lane Health Centre and chairman of the alliance, said: "There is a lot to be positive about, the bid itself, GPs working together in a federation for the first time and the potential for working together with the council.

"Our purpose is to drive system change for the benefit of our patients by developing new ways of working together and unlocking potential."

The alliance will also introduce new technology, enabling doctor and nurse appointments to be booked via mobile phone and consulting via video or email.

It also hopes to gain better links with the borough's pharmacies provide support to the voluntary and charity sector.

Councillor Lisa Blakemore, cabinet member for public health, said: "We know there needs to be a huge shift in thinking about how we take care of ourselves, where we find what we need when we are ill, while also recognising the huge pressures on hospitals and GPs across the country.

"We hear about these problems every day - in Richmond, we are keen to address them and keen to think outside the box in terms of solutions."

Richmond Park Conservative parliamentary candidate Zac Goldsmith said the improvements in technology, such as consultation via internet, were "just very, very obvious".

He added: "I think the technology aspect is really exciting, people making appointments by mobile and consultations via internet is what should be happening."

Conservative parliamentary candidate and Hampton Wick Councillor Tania Mathias, who works as a GP, said: "For our borough, we are leading the way again - the CCG was one of the first to be set up.

"I brought [Secretary of State for Health] Jeremy Hunt here because we are leading the way in our out-of-hours service."

Twickenham Liberal Democrat candidate Vince Cable added: "I carried out a survey of GPs two or three months ago and there was a lot of unhappiness from residents unable to get appointments."