LESS than half of Swindon patients can see their doctor early in the morning or in the evening.

That's because they are registered with surgeries that do not offer appointments at those times.

Of 24 surgeries in the Swindon and Shrivenham area, 10 offer extended access. Four surgeries offer no appointments outside of core hours, NHS figures show.

The government has promised seven-day, 8am-8pm access to pre-bookable and same day appointments to GPs services, although these may not be with the surgery with which a patient is registered.

NHS clinical commissioning groups have until October 1 this year to make sure all patients have access to extended hours. NHS England claims it is currently on track to meet the target.

A spokeswoman for Swindon CCG said extended hours were available from the medical centres in Moredon and on Fleming Way.

She added: “There are 23 general practices in Swindon that are working very hard to provide GP appointments from Monday to Friday.

“The latest round of CQC inspections show that the ratings for these services are generally good. To complement these services, Swindon CCG also commissions GP services 24/7.

“The extended primary care access service provides additional GP appointments between 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday, and 8am to 4.00pm at weekends. These appointments are provided from Swindon NHS Health Centre and Moredon Medical Practice. An out of hours GP service is also provided outside of these hours from 6.30pm to 8am Monday to Friday and all weekend. These services are there to help ensure good access to GP services.”

A Department of Health spokesman said: “We want everyone to have access to GP services, including routine appointments at evenings and weekends - and already millions of patients have benefitted from this which is backed by our investment of an extra £2.4 billion a year into general practice by 2021.”

However, doctors are not universally happy with the government’s extended hours schemes.

Dr Richard Vautrey, GP committee chairman at the BMA, said: “While schemes like this are rolled out and are successful in providing the services they are commissioned to do, we still believe the money invested in such programmes would be better spent improving core GP services. 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 a priority for proper funding.”

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, added: “General practice is facing intense resource and workforce pressures at the moment. Our workload has increased exponentially in terms of volume and complexity, but the share of the NHS budget we receive is less than it was a decade ago, and GP numbers are actually decreasing.

“With the significant workforce constraints we are currently working under, extra services might only be offered by compromising existing services – either reducing the quantity or quality of core hours offerings, or both.

“It’s also essential that any additional access to services is matched with sufficient resources – and CCGs must ensure the funding to deliver extended access, where appropriate for patients, gets to GPs at the frontline of delivering these services.”