This year’s GP Patient Survey revealed a big decrease in satisfaction from patients - particularly with their ability to get appointments. However, there are still many surgeries getting glowing feedback from those who use them - including one in Greater Manchester that has climbed to the country's top spot.
Patients are less happy with their GPs than in previous years, the data shows. The proportion who said their experience of their practice was very or fairly good dropped from 83.0 per cent in 2021, which was similar to previous years, to 72.4 per cent in 2022. The proportion describing their experiences as fairly or very poor has doubled from 6.7 per cent in 2021 to 13.6 per cent in 2022. Much of the drop appears to relate to frustrations over getting appointments.
But in Greater Manchester, High Lane Medical Centre in Stockport has achieved the greatest accolade. The practice has not only become the highest ranked surgery in the region, according to analysis by the Reach Data Unit, and ranking number one out of 6,418 practices across England. Of those surveyed, 99 per cent said their overall experience of the practice was good, with 97 per cent saying the experience of making an appointment was good - an incredible 100 per cent said they had been treated with care and concern at their last appointment.
Here are Greater Manchester’s top ranked surgeries:
High Lane Medical Centre - SK6 8DR, Stockport
99 per cent of people surveyed said their overall experience was good. Ranking out of 6,418 surgeries in England: 1
On being ranked highest in the country, High Lane's practice manager, Paula Davies told the Manchester Evening News : "We're all absolutely delighted, we think it's a brilliant achievement.
"We were a little surprised! We thought we'd done extremely well to be ranked highest in Greater Manchester a few years ago, and now we're highest in the country. It's just marvellous.
"It's all down to team work. Our staff work hard and we're committed to providing the best care we can for our patients."
The practice serves around 6,500 patients. "We do try to offer appointments ASAP, on the same day if we can. We do face-to-face and telephone appointments," continued Paula.
"We are very busy at the moment. And it has been difficult to recruit GPs - that has been a challenge, but we're keeping on and keeping trying. This achievement might help!"
Milnrow Village Practice - OL16 4EG, Rochdale
100 per cent of people surveyed said their overall experience was good. Ranking out of 6,418 surgeries in England: 11
Marple Bridge Surgery - SK6 5AA, Stockport
99 per cent of people surveyed said their overall experience was good. Ranking out of 6,418 surgeries in England: 12
Family Surgery - WA14 1LL, Trafford
97 per cent of people surveyed said their overall experience was good. Ranking out of 6,418 surgeries in England: 39
Zaman - WN3 5HL, Wigan
97 per cent of people surveyed said their overall experience was good. Ranking out of 6,418 surgeries in England: 45
Riddings Family Health Centre - WA15 6BP, Trafford
98 per cent of people surveyed said their overall experience was good. Ranking out of 6,418 surgeries in England: 62
Trinity Medical Centre - OL15 8AR, Rochdale
97 per cent of people surveyed said their overall experience was good. Ranking out of 6,418 surgeries in England: 67
The Guywood Medical Practice - SK6 4QR, Stockport
93 per cent of people surveyed said their overall experience was good. Ranking out of 6,418 surgeries in England: 203
Marple Cottage Surgery - SK6 6BW, Stockport
94 per cent of people surveyed said their overall experience was good. Ranking out of 6,418 surgeries in England: 217
Boundary House Medical Centre - M33 2RH, Trafford
92 per cent of people surveyed said their overall experience was good. Ranking out of 6,418 surgeries in England: 257
You can find out how your local surgery performed by typing its name or postcode into our interactive gadget.
High Lane Medical Centre in High Lane, Stockport, has been named the number one GP surgery in the country, according to patients. Also making it into the top five patients’ choice were Reeth Surgery, in Richmond, North Yorkshire, Alton Surgery in Stoke-on-Trent, Cartmel Surgery in Cumbria, and Dr BF Cook in Hull.
The league table is based on the latest findings from the GP Patient Survey - a huge independent poll, run by Ipsos on behalf of NHS England. The survey is sent out to more than two million people across the UK.
The GP Patient Survey covers everything from the trust patients have in their doctor, to the attitude of reception staff and how easy it is to get an appointment. The Reach Data Unit have crunched the numbers in seven key areas: how easy it is to get an appointment, whether opening times are convenient, whether people trust the GP, whether the GP listens to them, whether the GP treats them with care and concern, whether receptionists are helpful, and how patients rate their overall experience.
Each surgery was given a rank for its performance in each of these areas. Those category rankings were then added up to give an overall ranking. Surgeries that saw less than 10 per cent of the surveys sent out returned were excluded on the basis that the sample was too small to draw reliable conclusions.
Of patients at High Lane Medical Centre, 99 per cent said their overall experience of the surgery was good - with 96 per cent saying they definitely have confidence and trust in their GP. Every patient (100%) who responded said they were treated with care and concern in their appointment, while the same proportion felt their doctor listened to them properly.
Around 97 per cent were happy with the appointment times on offer, and 97 per cent had a good experience the last time they made an appointment. Meanwhile, 100 per cent of patients said reception staff at the practice were helpful.
Nationally, of those surveyed, 71.9 per cent said they were satisfied with the appointment they were offered the last time they tried to book one (down from 81.7 per cent in 2021), with 51.2 per cent getting an an appointment at a time they wanted or sooner (down from 58.9 per cent in 2021). In the 2022 survey, just over half (52.7 per cent) of patients said it was easy to get through to someone at their GP practice on the phone.
This is lower than all previous years since the question was introduced in 2012, with the largest decrease within the last year (a decline of 14.9 percentage points from 67.6 per cent in the 2021 survey). Just 56.2 per cent reported a good overall experience of making an appointment, compared to 70.6 per cent in 2021, 65.5 per cent in 2020.
Asked about their last appointment, a large majority of patients were happy with how they were treated, but satisfaction has dropped compared to last year. Among those polled, 93.1 per cent said they had confidence and trust in the healthcare professional (down from 95.6 per cent in 2021) and 83.5 per cent said the healthcare professional was good at treating them with care and concern (down from 88.4 per cent in 2021).
Dr Farah Jameel, BMA England GP committee chair, said: “It’s only right that patients expect and deserve high-quality, timely care whenever they interact with their GP practice, and we share their frustration when this doesn’t happen. We too feel dissatisfied after years of under-investment, ever increasing workload, and a government who has not been listening to us.
“We’ve been saying for years that general practice needs investment, more GPs, and more support to see as many patients as possible in a way which meets their needs. The fall in patient satisfaction with making an appointment is a stark reflection of the capacity shortfall that general practice is facing.
“General practice appointment bookings reached record highs over the winter of 2021, but we still lack enough doctors to safely meet demand. Despite this, more than 70 per cent of the public reported a good overall experience of their GP practice, which is testament to how hard our teams are working.”
Read more of today's top stories here
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