OUT-of-hours NHS care in the local area is being investigated by a health watchdog.

The Care Quality Commission will be carrying out an inspection of the Hantsdoc service, which forms part of North Hampshire Urgent Care.

Basingstoke MP Maria Miller is urging residents who have had experience of the service to make their voices heard.

She said: “This inspection of the out-of-hours GP service is an important way of looking at how well the service responds to patients needs and can also consider how the service communicates with other local services, such as GP practices, care homes and emergency services.

“I hope that people in the Basingstoke area who have used Hantsdoc will make their views known to help inform the inspection.”

Hantsdoc – an on-call doctors’ service – was set up in 1996, and used to enable patients to get through to a GP when their surgery was closed with a simple phone call.

But since the launch of NHS non-emergency number 111 in January last year, calls are referred to the service through call handlers, some of whom are not medically trained.

As previously reported in The Gazette, the lack of local knowledge of call handlers has caused issues for patients and Hantsdoc GPs themselves.

To comment on the service, email enquiries@cqc.org.uk, write to CQC, Citygate, Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4PA or call 03000 616161.