TENS of thousands of patients in and around Basingstoke cannot book an appointment with a GP outside of working hours.

That is the finding from BBC research, which showed that of 225,919 patients signed up to practices under the North Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group (NHCCG), none could enjoy ‘full provision’ access to book an appointment with a GP in evenings and at weekends.

This is despite the NHS targeting by October 1 for all patients to have access to extended hours.

Meanwhile, 30 per cent, 67,838 people, had no extended hours provision at all.

However, the CCG says the target will be met and added the majority of GP practices currently offer some form of extended hours provision.

For the research, full extended hours provision is defined as patients having access to pre-bookable appointments on Saturdays and Sundays and on each weekday for at least 1.5 hours; either in the early morning before 8am, in the evening after 6.30pm or in both morning and evening; through the patient’s own practice or a grouping of which their practice is a member.

In the North West Hampshire CCG area, 54.1 per cent of patients had full provision and the figure is 58.8 per cent in the North East Hampshire and Farnham CCG region.

The England average is 40 per cent full provision.

Dr Nicola Decker, NHCCG clinical chair, said: “Ensuring people can easily access services in our local community is a key component of the North Hampshire Health and Care Transformation Plan. We know and understand that good access to primary care is important to our population.

“North Hampshire is currently implementing improved access to GP practices, with a target delivery date of October 1, 2018. Currently nearly 70 per cent of GP practices within North Hampshire provide services between 8am and 8pm, Monday to Friday and Saturday mornings, with many providing this level of service since April 2018.

“From October 1, 2018, the extended hours will also include access on Sundays and Bank Holiday across the whole of the North Hampshire area resulting in 100 per cent of our patients having access to GP services seven days a week.”

The BBC figures show 70 per cent of NHCCG area patients - 158,081 - had access to ‘partial provision’, defined as access to pre-bookable appointments on at least one day a week, covering at least a 1.5 hours per week timeframe which means 30 per cent of NHCCG patients have no extended hours provision at all.

The BBC collated information from NHS England, via individual GP practices filling out surveys bi-annually on extended access.