The majority of patients (71%) had a good experience booking an appointment, according to the latest GP Patient Survey, produced by Ipsos MORI on behalf of NHS England. This is up from 65% in the 2020 survey.
The issue of whether GPs are offering enough face-to-face appointments as Covid-19 restrictions ease remains hotly debated.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid has now unveiled a £250m package for GPs in England to improve access to their services - but only if they increase the number of in-person consultations.
GP groups have responded angrily, accusing ministers of failing to grasp the scale of the staffing crisis affecting surgeries.
The patient survey contacted 2.4 million people from January to April of this year to gather information on how patients feel about their local GP service, and around a third of them responded.
The results reveal the best and worst rated surgeries in Preston and beyond. They also shed light on people’s experiences of booking an appointment locally.
Here we reveal the GP practices in the Greater Preston Clinical Commissioning Group area which were voted the easiest/hardest to make an appointment at.
Surgeries are ranked by the proportion of patients who said their experience of booking an appointment was ‘very good’.
1. Dr A Hussain at Ribble Village Surgery
There were 502 survey forms sent out to patients at Dr A Hussain at Ribble Village Surgery. The response rate was 16.7%. When asked about their experience of making an appointment, 51.6% said very good, 19.4% said fairly good, 17.2% were neither good nor poor - while 6.8% said fairly poor and 5% very poor.
2. St Mary’s Health Centre
There were 491 survey forms sent out to patients at St Mary’s Health Centre. The response rate was 23.2%. When asked about their experience of making an appointment, 48.9% said very good, 30.1% said fairly good, 7.1% were neither good nor poor - while 10.9% said fairly poor and 3% very poor.
3. Ribbleton Medical Centre
There were 467 survey forms sent out to patients at Ribbleton Medical Centre. The response rate was 25.7%. When asked about their experience of making an appointment, 44.1% said very good, 39.8% said fairly good, 10.3% were neither good nor poor - while 0.6% said fairly poor and 5.2% very poor.
4. Park View
There were 486 survey forms sent out to patients at Park View Surgery. The response rate was 26.1%. When asked about their experience of making an appointment, 43% said very good, 39.6% said fairly good, 10.5% were neither good nor poor - while 5.9% said fairly poor and 1.1% very poor.