Satisfied with your GP practice?

Who did they ask? Not me? Not you?
My surgery receptionist are OK. A couple of nurses (healthcare people) got new titles are nice.
But the doctors? Never ever see them! Don’t know their names or what they look like?
Just dread ever trying to contact the surgery!

Ours has gone from being the absolute best in a very wide area to the most complained about. The problem is, we have had massive building programmes, the catchment area is enormous, they are having trouble recruiting and they are finding it impossible to keep up. This has the effect of stressing the staff who end up needing to take sick leave so the problem snowballs.
I do find that treating the receptionists like human beings rather than guard dogs really helps with the service you get! I also accept that nowadays you only see a Dr if the triage service thinks it is appropriate.
I think the questionnaires you get to fill in after an appointment are perhaps weighted to making the service out to be better than it is. They don't ask how long you had to wait, how many times you tried to make the appointment but failed and how long you spent on the phone trying to get through. Consequently, my reviews are always positive because once I step through the door, I have no complaints.

Thanks for the link ftm420
For our practice, it showed that less than a third of the surveys sent out were returned.

On one of the questions about accessing the surgery, it reported that responses from people who said they have been unable to get through had been excluded from the results.

No. I was fobbed off with a paramedic whom misdiagnosed the problem which wasted time and money. We need more real doctors.

In that online survey my surgery comes above average in nearly every section and I totally agree
I much prefer the online email communication and have only ever had very quick responses, last year I had a badly infected foot I sent an online email with a online photo and within a very short time I had an answer with the prescription waiting for me at my nearby pharmacy
Within 2 hours I was using the medication I thought that was wonderful and my foot did also

Yes, very much so.

The practice we had been with for fifty years was overwhelmed and it took over a month each time to get an appointment. Never saw the same person twice. This is mainly down to part time doctors and too much house building in the area. After a lot of thought we changed to a smaller practice and I can’t praise them highly enough. You always get an appointment quickly, doctors ring you with advice and if you are really ill, you get seen immediately. Just how it used to be. So so grateful for this.

I have no complaints about our GP's. Everyone from reception staff to nurses, dispensary staff, and doctors are all warm and friendly.

My only complaint is that the doctor I usually see, known as H, is leaving next week to move to the Caymans.

I have no idea. I moved across the country 18 months ago and have yet to have contact, other than production line vaccinations and on
One prescription renewal.
It seems that it is easier to get an audience with the Pope than a face to face appointment with a doctor…. As for dragons!🐉

I chose my GP practice after moving to my present home ten years ago because it's within walking distance of where I live, and my former sister-in-law's family had used the same practice for many years.
The GP's and the services they provide are OK I suppose, but it's getting throiugh to them on the phone that's the bugbear. If I want an appointment I have to phone up when the surgery opens and when (IF) I get through the receptionist asks me what's wrong with me and why do I want to see a doctor - I sometimes wonder if they are medically qualified to ask all this personal information over the phone!
In the end I've decided it's easier to get an appointment and speak toa real live person if I simply wlk the 1/4 mile each way to the surgery to arrange an appoint,ent in person. The problem there is that I have angina and early-stage heart failure so walking that sort of distance is a bit of a strain, especially at this time of year.
I therefore only try to contat the GP surgery if I feel I'm in dire need, after having first dialled 111 to fond out whether my requirement warrants a GP appointment or a trip to A&E.

We feel very lucky to have a great GP practice which is in a village nearby along with a dental practice next door. I’m happy to have a telephone consultation for most things and when I needed to see a GP face to face was able to say which one I would prefer to see. I do think a lot of people are time wasters who see a GP for the slightest thing, a cold and so on. The NHS gets abused by so many too.

We moved house four years ago and I was worried about registering quickly with a GP practice as my husband takes a lot of medication. We needn't have worried, I asked a local pharmacist which practice he would recommend, emailed them and within the day we were registered and had our online accounts set up.
The receptionists are efficient rather than friendly, but I've been able to get an emergency appointment when necessary. We can also contact them online and always get a message or phone call within 24 hours, faster if they deem it a serious problem.
I think that there is one lead GP and a few temporary and part time doctors, but all we have seen have been fine, as have the Nurses, PA's and others.
I've had a few problems in the last year and have always been referred on quickly. The only bottlenecks here are for blood tests which seem to have a wait of more than two weeks, but I'm guessing that if there was an urgent problem there would be a way to get it done.
We often get a satisfaction survey of some kind after a series of appointments and I'm sure that they would pick up on any problems quickly.
The surgery building houses at least two other practices and I know that one of these is deemed to be unsatisfactory by the powers that be, but our practice shows how it can be done.

well in my old practice I was known by the doctors and was very satisfied with the treatment I got. They of course, knew me over the years and were aware that I only came to the doctors if I was absolutely stuck and couldnt manage without help. I had ovarian cancer, and had operation, 6 months chemo etc etc. I moved to another town during covid to a ground floor flat , trying to keep myself independant as long as possible . I had also done 10 years of 3 days a week as a hospital car driver volunteer, so am very aware of not wasting appointments or calling for unneccesary home visits. Due to the covid situation, no one was going to the doctors to sit there or anything. I had my prescription, am diabetic, and I had never met the doctors, nor had any contact with them. So, I had looked at a red mark near my ankle and wondered how that had arrived there, not had any knocks. Dismissed it but the next day my leg started to swell a great deal to the extent that I had to change my trousers to a very wide legged pair. It was a friday, so I decided that I needed to see someone, as I did not want to have to call out an ambulance over the weekend . So I rang and spoke to a receptionist who was most unhelpful. I insisted that I needed to see someone that day, and told her if the doctor looked at my record he would see how little I had visited the doctors. I refused to let her arrange for an appointment for the monday and so with a very bad grace she begrudgingly said that I could come. I have had my covid jabs as had my friend. I had to ask her to come and take me in her car, as I didnt think it was safe to drive my car. Got there and the receptionist said in rather a brusque manner , sit in the green corridor area. I asked where that was, as a) I had never been there before and b) my back was very painful as was my leg, and couldnt walk well or quickly. When the screen lit up with my name I got up and struggled to walk down a long corridor. The doctor came out of his door to see where I had got to. When I got into the surgery, I said first let me show you my legs. I sat down and pulled up the trousers. His face changed, and he said "Oh, just sit there I will be back in a minute" and disappeared down the corridor. Came back and asked how I had got there and i told him my friend had brought me. Thought he would then get me some antibiotics or whatever, but he said "I have rung the hospital and can she take you straight there" It turned out to be cellulitis, which I had not heard about and never met before. I ended up having to have 16 days of intravenous medication and if I had waited until monday things could have been even worse. As I went to go to the car park, I smiled at the doctor and said "I am pleased to have met you, sorry I had to be so insistent, but if you look at my records you will see that I never waste your time. Since then I have got cancer again, and when I get to see them the doctors and nurses here are very good, but partly due to the covid situation, I have never got to know any of the staff as I did with my previous surgery, and do not feel that there is any personal knowledge of me or my situation. So what they miss is things like, if I went to have a diabetic check up or have my eyes tested if there was something else that I hadnt noticed but as they knew me they would pick up on it.
I also get angry on other peoples behalf, because of the booking situation etc. Not everyone has a phone or a laptop , and can only walk in and book, or ring up from a phone box or have the money to use a mobile when you are hanging on for 10 minutes to be spoken too, but because the actual phone is answered you are paying for that call!!! So once again
those who have less get poorer service if they cannot afford to be on the phone for ages. There are those who have money and can choose to go private, if the NHS cannot help them in a short time, but that is still a form of queue jumping , because most of us do not have the possibility to do that, so we need to make the situation better for everyone. If we all had the money available and chose to spend it on other things that would be a different matter , but for so many of us we do not have that option. Sitting in a hospital A@E waiting area, you may see someone who came in after you but is taken in first. That is because the triage there is looking to see who needs the most urgent treatment. Would you want someone to bleed to death or stop breathing because you were in front of them in the queue.? Well we all understand that need, and so in the same way, someone having the money to go privately, is a legal possibility, but I feel it is wrong that money is the way that things are chosen over need. Everyone has their own feelings about this and I lived abroad and could have had private medicine through the firm when I was back in England , but it was against my principles, so I have had the possibility to do that, it is not that I was never in a position to be able to afford it.

I am reasonably happy with our GP practice. It isn't perfect but, as we live in a heavily populated and not especially wealthy part of London, I think it does a pretty good job.

Mogsmaw The arrangement your practice has over the Christmas period seems totally unsatisfactory to me - and what happens if people do not have a computer to make appointments? Surely this can't be right?

Ours is excellent. It is a huge practice In Newark. Thankfully, so far, we have not needed to bother them very much. Just an annual check-up and the various injections that older people are frequently offered these days. Follow up is quick if any of the blood or urine tests show up anything that needs attention. I think they do a terrific job.

Our GP practice is 'alright'. Rarely see the same doctor twice and it's usually someone in their final year of training. We don't have to wait long to get through to Reception, the receptionist takes a message and a doctor rings back the same day. The doctor then either makes an appt or issues a prescription. I am fortunate to be able to see a private physiotherapist; I don't hold out much hope with our NHS physio system.

Not happy with ours at all. Getting a face to face appointment has been almost impossible since covid, yet if you call in to pick up a script etc the waiting room is empty. The practice in our next village has closed and they've taken their patients on, even though they can't cope with the ones we have. Trying to phone through is impossible, but if you do an e consult on line -has to be done at 8am, then the GP will phone you back. All 4 of our GP's work in private practice at a hospital as well.

Our GP practice has improved slightly, it was very poor, however it is now run by locums so never see the same one twice for follow up of care.
What does irritate me is, when I read my record of my visit information that wasn't asked of me is put down !
This happens frequently.

Used to sing the praises of my GP practice with built in pharmacy but that was pre Covid. Totally different practice now and the GP's are currently working to rule. Phone message informs callers that after the 'required' no. of calls have been dealt with per day then all others will be referred to 111 service.
All GP's are part time, they always employ trainee GP's for short periods and these seem to be the only ones you can ever get an appt with. On line appt system shows a wait of over 4 weeks for a face to face appt with one of these trainees and over 3 weeks for a phone appt. There are some daily appts available but this involves waiting for a triage phone call first before learning if a GP can actually see you.
The pharmacy seems to be badly organised with no set systems. Can order repeat items on line and should get items 48 hrs later via the machine outside. However if order more than one item and one is not available then they don't contact you to let you know or issue the available item, meaning you have to call again and ask for the available item to be issued. The pharmacy phone line is only available for 2 hrs per day! Then in some cases you have to ask for a phone apt with GP to ask for an alternative medication. They need a system!

Apparently our GP practice is deemed to be in an ‘affluent’ area, so we don’t get as much funding as those in the town centre. So we’re not supposed to be ill… The ratio of patients to GPs is ridiculous. However, when you do manage an appointment the staff are always lovely, although it’s always a different doctor (if you manage to see a doc and not an advanced practitioner). It’s just a problem with the practice being overstretched.

I don’t believe this survey as I think most people are dissatisfied with the way GP practicing is now being run, having to wait over a month for an appointment and then only if the non medically trained receptionist deems it necessary, how dare an admin worker decide who should see a doctor and how long they have to wait.
This is dangerous and the sooner the GMC realises this the better, obviously I can only speak of the area in which I live
I have waited five months for a GP to refer me to a spinal clinic which a surgeon requested be done and despite contacting the GP regarding this it still hasn’t been done.

GP practice is a misnomer. Don’t think GPs exist anymore; we certainly don’t get to see one. If it’s something above a nurse’s qualifications we are told by the receptionist or a text to go straight to A&E! The nurses have taken over all the GPs rooms, the admin staff decide whether you’re worthy of seeing the nurse. So I wish I had had the chance to complete the survey, but maybe my views would have been excluded as clearly bad experiences are not what they want heard based on what an earlier poster on GN said.
Our surgery used to be excellent in the 90s with appointments possible within 1-3 hours (sometimes told ‘pop down now’) and you saw the same (assigned) GP so they knew your history and there was no need to repeat yourself time and again. Not only that they knew your family and enquired after them too. All the GPs there were excellent practitioners with great bedside manner. For those of us old enough to remember it means today’s service is very poor in comparison. Wish I could be more positive. 🤷‍♀️

Answer NO.
Our practice (no chance of changing) is still in special measures/in need of improvement. I haven't managed to see a doctor in over 5 years, always fobbed off with the pharmacy, a "nurse" or the receptionist and yes we are classed as an affluent area - maybe we are expected to pay for treatment ! I for one can't. I've got to know A&E quite well.

Mine's definitely got worse since I joined two years ago. Fewer appointments, cr*ppier doctors. The nurses are still okay.

The previous one was bad, too, and had been since well before Covid.

I think that General Practice has become a victim of perverse incentives - making money dependent on pushing us all into activities that tick the right boxes means that there's less pressure to do the right things for the individual patient.

Maybe they should make GP pay dependent on two things; demographically adjusted long term disability rate and demographically adjusted death rate. That way they'd want to keep us healthy and alive for as long as possible.

I’m sorry but I don’t buy the ‘the survey must be wrong’ line. The independent Ipsos survey in July had almost 700,000 responses, and found virtually the same thing as this latest survey. Unfortunately some people are receiving a poor service, but please don’t invalidate the feelings of the majority on that basis.