The number of patients per GP now varies by as much as three times across England, according to a new analysis.

The differences reflect shortages of doctors rather than differences in funding allocations, senior doctors say.

The investigation by the BBC found 3,300 patients for every GP in Swale, Kent. This compared with 1,200 patients to a doctor in Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire.

Areas with low numbers of GPs included Horsham, Sussex, with 2,997 patients to a doctor, Thanet in Kent with 2,520 patients to a doctor and Bexley, London – on the edge of Kent – with 2,479 patients to a doctor.

Camden, London, however, has just 1,227 patients per doctor, Liverpool has a ratio of 1,283 patients per doctor and North Derbyshire 1,286 patients to a doctor.

The BBC said ratios had improved in many poor areas because of the programme of £20,000 incentives aimed to entice doctors to areas with shortages.

So far 500 doctors have been recruited under the scheme. This year North Yorkshire and Durham are to get 33 doctors each while Plymouth and North Cumbria will get 18 each.

NHS England director of primary care Dr Nikki Kanani said: “The scheme is having a hugely positive impact on parts of the country where we have traditionally struggled to recruit trainee family doctors.

“Although overall recruitment of GPs is increasing, in some parts of England a significant proportion of GP training places have been unfilled.”

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said the analysis “suggests there are areas of the country that are really struggling to get the GPs they need. Over the past decade, general practice has not received the investment it needs.”

Dr Becks Fisher, of the Health Foundation, said: “Over the past decade the GP workforce has fallen faster in the most deprived areas than in the wealthiest. This risks fuelling a vicious cycle of poorer access to care for those with the greatest need.”