By CAROLINE WILSON

THE majority of GP surgeries in Greater Glasgow are now allowing patients to book appointments online, according to data.

The Scottish Government has set a target that 90% of surgeries across Scotland should be providing appointments and repeat prescriptions online by the end of the year.

A government spokeswoman said "around 190 practices" in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde were providing the 24-hour service.

There are some 240 practices in the region, which means the board has an 80% compliance rate at this stage in the year.

It is hoped the online service will free up phone lines for people with no internet access, and enable GP practices to manage appointments and telephone calls more efficiently.

However, research by the think tank Reform Scotland published last month shows just four health boards have so far met the standard of at least 90% of surgeries offering the services by the end of 2017

NHS Highland is one of the poorer-performing health board areas. Just a quarter of practices there offer online appointment bookings and/or repeat prescribing.

The proportion was 45% in Ayrshire and Arran and 50% in Shetland.

Patients are required to register for the 24-hour online system to book GP appointments only.

After initial registration, this system will allow patients to book, cancel or check appointments as well as ordering repeat prescriptions.

Some surgeries allow patients to access asummary of their medical records and test results.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: "There are around 190 GP surgeries in NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde are currently offering online appointments and/or repeat prescriptions.

"The target of 90% was set for Scotland as a whole, not for each Board. We are continuing to pro-actively support surgeries in this process."