Patient satisfaction plummeted in this year's GP Patient Survey.
Roughly 72% of respondents across the country said they had a good overall experience of their GP practice, down from 83% last year. Patients still overwhelmingly trust health professionals when they do see them, according to the survey run by Ipsos for NHS England, but they find it harder to get an appointment with them.
Dr Gary Howsam, vice chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: "GP teams are working flat out to deliver increasingly complex care to the rising numbers of patients that need it. More consultations are consistently being delivered every month than before the pandemic, and nearly half of these on the same day they are booked.
READ MORE: Reality of treating city's most critically ill patients from the sky
"But while the complexity and intensity of GP workload is ever-growing, the number of full-time, fully qualified GPs is falling and we simply don't have the time or resources to deliver the type of care we want to deliver for our patients."
Despite this, many surgeries continue to perform well with glowing feedback from their patients. Among these is Grove Road Surgery in Wirral, ranked the highest of GP practices in Merseyside, according to analysis of the survey results by the Reach Data Unit. Below are the
Merseyside's top ranked GP practices
Grove Road Surgery - CH45 3HF, Wirral
Ranked 14 out of 6,418 GP practices in England, 96% of respondents said they had a good overall experience.
Greenbank Road Surgery - L18 1HG, Liverpool
Ranked 94 out of 6,418 GP practices in England, 93% of respondents said they had a good overall experience.
Kenneth MacRae Medical Centre - WA11 8HJ, St. Helens
Ranked 104 out of 6,418 GP practices in England, 97% of respondents said they had a good overall experience.
Holmlands Medical Centre - CH43 0TX, Wirral
Ranked 117 out of 6,418 GP practices in England, 96% of respondents said they had a good overall experience.
Rutherford Medical Centre - L18 0HJ, Liverpool
Ranked 191 out of 6,418 GP practices in England, 96% of respondents said they had a good overall experience.
Allport Medical Centre - CH62 6EE, Wirral
Ranked 248 out of 6,418 GP practices in England, 94% of respondents said they had a good overall experience.
Norwood Surgery - PR9 7EG, Sefton
Ranked 269 out of 6,418 GP practices in England, 92% of respondents said they had a good overall experience.
Oak Vale Medical Centre - L15 6UT, Liverpool
Ranked 288 out of 6,418 GP practices in England, 93% of respondents said they had a good overall experience.
Parkfield Surgery - WA10 2DJ, St. Helens
Ranked 334 out of 6,418 GP practices in England, 89% of respondents said they had a good overall experience.
Moss Way - L11 0BL, Liverpool
Ranked 359 out of 6,418 GP practices in England, 88% of respondents said they had a good overall experience.
Merseyside's bottom ranked GP practices
Fir Tree - L12 0JE, Liverpool
Ranked 6,173 out of 6,418 GP practices in England, 43% of respondents said they had a good overall experience.
Ford Medical Practice - L21 0DF, Sefton
Ranked 6,178 out of 6,418 GP practices in England, 47% of respondents said they had a good overall experience.
The Hollies Family Surgery - L37 4AF, Sefton
Ranked 6,214 out of 6,418 GP practices in England, 43% of respondents said they had a good overall experience.
Bousfield - Roberts - L4 4PP, Liverpool
Ranked 6,218 out of 6,418 GP practices in England, 42% of respondents said they had a good overall experience.
Aston Healthcare Limited - L36 0UB, Knowsley
Ranked 6,242 out of 6,418 GP practices in England, 46% of respondents said they had a good overall experience.
Stanley Medical Centre - L5 2QA, Liverpool
Ranked 6,254 out of 6,418 GP practices in England, 47% of respondents said they had a good overall experience.
Bluebell Lane Surgery - L36 7XY, Knowsley
Ranked 6,263 out of 6,418 GP practices in England, 39% of respondents said they had a good overall experience.
Sandringham Medical Centre - L17 4JP, Liverpool
Ranked 6,351 out of 6,418 GP practices in England, 42% of respondents said they had a good overall experience.
Billinge Medical Practice - WN5 7LY, St Helens
Ranked 6,401 out of 6,418 GP practices in England, 33% of respondents said they had a good overall experience.
A spokesperson for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside said: "The results of this recent patient survey show the scale of the challenge we face nationally and locally around ensuring people get access to the services they need. Nationally, we note, the survey shows the most significant drop in patient satisfaction with regard to access to GPs, either through phone or face-to-face appointments, as well as out of hours services.
"Although Cheshire and Merseyside perform better than the national average in many areas, we are utterly committed to doing more. When patients do consult with their GP, it is encouraging to see that satisfaction levels remain extremely high in the trust and confidence people have in their GP - 94% satisfaction - again, above the national average.
"Covid is still part of our daily lives and has certainly had an impact on GP services. Our GPs are actually having more daily contacts with patients now than they did before the pandemic. And this is testament to the hard work and innovative thinking across our system.
"We are already making use of the information provided in this survey to improve our offer where we can and share best practice with colleagues. We have some exceptional examples across Cheshire and Merseyside where satisfaction is significantly higher than the national average, and also some areas where it is lower."
READ NEXT
