Quarter of patients could not see doctor ‘out of hours’

But the situation is better across the border in the Shropshire Council area, where most people needing a late or weekend appointment are able to get one.

Data gathered from 14 practices in the NHS Telford & Wrekin CCG showed that 24 per cent of patients – or 44,030 people – were unable to book an appointment for Saturday, Sunday or out of hours on weekdays, according to NHS England.

In September, 24 per cent of patients in Telford and Wrekin had full seven-day access to GP appointments and a further 52 per cent had access during some extended hours.

While coverage for Telford & Wrekin was patchy, the situation in Shropshire, figures show Shropshire patients fared better.

Data gathered from 41 practices in the NHS Shropshire CCG during the month showed that 58 per cent of patients, that's 174,863 people, could book an appointment on Saturday, Sunday or out of hours on a weekday. A further 34 per cent, or 101,076 people, had access at some of those times. A total of 25,297 had no access to appointments outside usual hours.

The national figures showed that 94 per cent of patients in England had access to appointments during some extended hours, and 55 per cent of patients had full access. Only five clinical commissioning group areas in England recorded seven-day access for all patients at the end of September, but the position has improved since the data was collected, according to NHS England.

The poorest record was in NHS Liverpool CCG where 59 per cent of patients had no access to extended appointment hours.

An NHS spokesman said: "This programme has gathered momentum since September with evening and weekend appointments now available to more than 98 per cent of patients. We are well on track to hit the 100 per cent target, originally set for March 2019 but brought forward so more appointments are available this winter.”

But doctors' leaders have cautioned that the push for extended hours may damage the 'core service' they offer in regular hours on weekdays.

The Government says that everyone should have "more convenient access to GP services, including appointments at evening and weekends."

NHS England says that the additional capacity will help to ease pressure on doctors and A&E.

Under extended hours, doctors offer appointments on Saturday, Sunday and on weekdays in the early morning and after 6.30pm. In most instances, practices get together to form hubs or federations that provide the service, so patients may not see their usual doctor.

Dr Richard Vautrey, BMA GP committee chair, said that GPs want to give patients more access to appointments but underfunding and staff shortages made it difficult.

He said: "Many practices have worked hard to establish extended hours schemes but the phased implementation, as a result of the gradual release of funding over a number of years by NHS England, means that some areas are at an earlier stage of development than others.

"We still believe the money invested in such programmes would be better spent improving core GP services and enable more patients to get an appointment during the daytime when most prefer to see their local GP.

“We know that patients are frustrated with being unable to get timely appointments during regular working hours, owing to increased demand and unmanageable GP workloads, and therefore it is these services that should be priority for proper funding.”

Across England there are 7,015 practices and 6,656 of them provided data.