Patients struggling to find a GP will be able to force the recruitment of private doctors.

Brighton and Hove Primary Care Trust (PCT) could be compelled by residents to increase GP provision under new Government measures to tackle the postcode lottery.

Other "under-doctored" areas of Sussex will also be covered by the new scheme.

They include Eastbourne Downs, Bexhill and Rother, Adur, Arun and Worthing, Western Sussex and Hastings and St Leonards, all of which have fewer doctors per head than the national average.

A residents' petition will be all that is needed to trigger a deadline for a PCT to explain how it plans to provide new practices and walk-in centres from "any willing provider".

This could mean either a private medical company or a voluntary group, which will also be encouraged to improve access by opening as early as 7am and as late as 10pm.

The move is the first foray of the private sector into community healthcare. Private provision has previously been restricted to hospitals and operations.

Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said private firms were needed because PCTs on their own did not have the "size or clout" to tackle health inequalities.

It was difficult to attract traditional GPs because they were self-employed, she said, but those brought in by private companies would be paid a salary.

Anticipating concern about increased private involvement in the NHS, Ms Hewitt said: "There is no issue of principle here. It is simply about ensuring we get the services we need to the people who need it."

The proposals are set out in the Department of Health's new White Paper Our Health, Our Care, Our Say.

It states: "We will help all PCTs in under-served areas to draw upon national expertise to attract new providers of sufficient size to fill these gaps in provision.

"We will do this by ensuring that PCTs actively commission additional practices, reflecting the needs and expectations of their local populations.

"Change will be driven locally, with local authority input, and co-ordinated nationally in a series of procurement waves.

"This is an urgent priority if we are to make equal access for equal need a reality."