HEALTH bosses have pledged to extend GPs’ hours into the evenings and weekends despite missing out on £5m in Government funding.

Dr Rod Smith, chairman of the Berkshire West Federation of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG), spearheaded a bid for a slice of the £50m Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund, which was set up by NHS England to fund GPs extending their operating hours in nine pilot areas.

But the Caversham GP, who works at Balmore Park Surgery in Hemdean Road, was disappointed to discover on Monday that it had been unsuccessful.

He said: “Many patients can only see their own GP by taking time off work which is inconvenient for them and can lead to unnecessary A&E attendances.

“Our proposal embraced improvements that would benefit everyone and we are obviously disappointed to not get the additional funding.”

Dr Smith worked with 34 GP practices from Reading and Wokingham to put together the bid, which had to prove it would benefit more than 40,000 patients, improve healthcare and reduce the burden on A&E.”

But the three CCGs - which cover Reading and Wokingham - have pledged to support his plans to extend the hours from 8am-6.30pm to 8am-8pm during the week and from 8.30am-1pm at weekends. Dr Smith said: “While a setback, we are delighted to say that the Berkshire West CCGs are now working with us to enable us to continue with the project.”

Cathy Winfield, chief officer of the Berkshire West CCGs, admitted that while the commissioning groups were disappointed the GPs had missed out on vital funding, she stressed accessing services at evenings and weekends and reducing the burden on A&E is a key priority for the group.

She added: “We are now looking to provide financial support for the project ourselves. This would enable GP practices to deliver the additional opening hours that patients have told us they want and should work to reduce unnecessary A&E attendances.”