Satisfied with your GP practice?

I am so lucky with my practice, recently voted amongst the best in the country. All the staff are excellent from the pharmacy to reception to all the medical staff.

I’m happy with our GP practice and 111. They do a good job in challenging circumstances.

Casdon

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.

Surveys get it wrong quite often by creating a bias in the questions, often forcing you to give a least worse option, infact forcing a reply when there are not enough options in the responses available. I know this because I used to work for a company called Mass Observation.

I am fairly satisfied with my practice. Unfortunately my lovely lady GP has gone off to have a baby. Lovely for her, but not so good for me. Don't wish to sound selfish but she is literally the first GP I have really felt safe with as an older person. I felt she really knew me.
I don't go often, in fact I didn't know she was pregnant and that she was taking a year off. Knowing she was there made me feel safer. I have lived two years longer than any of my family, on both sides, and would like to live a bit longer to see my lovely GD grow into a beautiful adult.
When I lived in Devon my lovely GP ( male) left because of stress. He wrote us all a heartfelt letter to all his patients explaining why he was leaving. This was ten years ago, It's much worse now and something needs to be done to help these stressed GPs before we lose more of them.

Oddly, I think the GPs themselves are far more respectful and helpful than they were, say, 40 years ago when they were often very rude, patronising and dismissive. They do listen and really try to help these days, whereas I didn't have that experience so often when I was younger. It may be because there are more female GPs or just better training. Trying to see the same one when there's a continuing issue or something that needs to be followed up isn't so easy, well, actually it's impossible, but at least I no longer dread having to make a appointment. If I phone in and there's a long queue, they now have a system where they ring back, which helps, although I prefer not to have to describe the reason I'm booking the appointment over the phone first, but even that's better than it used to be as our receptionists are overall really lovely. Getting a telephone appointment with the GP usually works well but they don't give a choice of the timing, so it wasn't so good on the occasion they phoned when I was in a hospital waiting room with a sick relative in a wheelchair and then having to describe an urgent intimate problem with my lady-garden in front of an audience. Anyway, I feel that they are harder to access than they used to be but generally better than they were once you can get to see one.

homefarm

Casdon

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.

Surveys get it wrong quite often by creating a bias in the questions, often forcing you to give a least worse option, infact forcing a reply when there are not enough options in the responses available. I know this because I used to work for a company called Mass Observation.

This was a huge, validated survey which has beeen developed and refined over a number of years though, so that’s quite unlikely in this case.

Casden -Validated by whom? The question to ask is who commissioned the survey in the first place. I stand by what I said.

My Fathers GP Practice is awful.
Recorded message daily advising no more appts and to go to a local hosp Walk In. When he has been poorly enough to go to the local Hosp Walk In he has been chastised for attending and told to go to his GP. He is 86 for goodness sake and his legs look awful (cellulitis although who am I to diagnose )? and they look infected now - District Nurses didn’t attend before our lovely Mum died (legs looked the same) and we are all terrified of Sepsis.
I will be driving to the GPs tomorrow if I cannot get through on the phone - worried sick and Dad refusing to go to Hosp even if he is advised to - Happy Christmas

homefarm

Casden -Validated by whom? The question to ask is who commissioned the survey in the first place. I stand by what I said.

‘The GP Patient Survey is an independent survey run by Ipsos on behalf of NHS England. The survey is sent out to over two million people across England. The results show how people feel about their GP practice.’
www.gp-patient.co.uk › about
About - GP Patient Survey

‘The survey is sent to a random selection of people who are registered with a GP in England. To ensure the survey is valid, Ipsos cannot invite people who have not already been selected at random to take part in the survey.’
www.gp-patient.co.uk › taki...
Taking Part - GP Patient Survey
Feedback

Casden - you've said it all! NHS. They have a vested interest in the results.

I do understand about survey bias, having done a Sociology degree as an adult. All surveys are commissioned for a purpose, and cost a lot of money to organise, so carry a risk that questions are biased because who else would commission them other than an organisation which has a vested interest in the results? A survey sent to 2 million randomly selected people on behalf of NHS England is designed to understand what people feel about the NHS, and importantly, the results are compared with previous years so a deterioration in the public perception of the service provided is obvious. So no, it’s not perfect, but no, I don’t accept your opinion that because it was commissioned by NHS England it produces inaccurate results.
A calculation of the responses on this thread will also tell you that the majority of people are happy with the service provided by their GP surgery - but as we’re a self selecting group we aren’t representative either.

My GP surgery used to be wonderful, but post-Covid its hopeless. You have to phone at 8am to get an appointment which of course results in holding on for hours and then being told there are no appointments left and that you should ring again the next day. 'Routine' appointments used to be possible on line if you didnt mind waiting 3 weeks, but now they have to be made via the phone and you might wait over a month to see a nurse practitioner. Doctors all work part-time and are very frequently off sick, sometimes all of them together. Then we get sent an e-mail advising us not to contact the surgery.

My surgery was good until I did what people are advised to do.

That is, advocate for myself.

The change was almost immediate, and across the board; gp, receptionists, all really unpleasant.

We moved from a dreadful practice to an amazing one. I went on personal recommendation and didn’t want to deal with physician associates. Good reception staff and the clinicians are fabulous. If you’re genuinely unwell you will always get squeezed in,

Usually happy with my gp but just lately can’t get an appointment for at least two weeks.
Find if I ask for a repeat script they miss off certain items so have to email them again- this time asked to miss off certain items as I got them late so still have some tablets left, I ended up getting the lot.
Dad had pneumonia, repeatedly asked for a gp visit to get more antibiotics (even the district nurses asked also for gp visit),
No visit, my dad ended up passing away.

Our surgery is part of a huge group practice. Systems have changed since covid, some people find them difficult, we find them easy enough to use now we’re used to them.

Enquiries are all triaged by a GP, on the day appointments are offered for anything urgent, routine appointments are usually within two weeks and we’ve found no problem in getting continuity of care. Long may that last. They responded immediately and approprIately when Mr C needed urgent help post surgery last year. Onward referral is prompt.

Receptionists are kind, thoughtful, efficient and knowledgeable about staff and systems - as long as they are spoken courteously. I’ve heard them receive some appalling rudeness.

The practice overall needs more GPs, recruitment is difficult, patient numbers are growing, local population is ageing, the service is stretched. Some patients would undoubtedly disagree depending on personal experiences, for ourselves we’re more than satisfied with the support we get

If I hadn't of moved over 100 miles to the north west and had picked my new GP and only because the bus stops opposite. He sent me to see a cardiologist and neurologist. And found out 2 things I was born with and having treatment. I was under a neurologist where I used to live but he never did the test my neurologist did and put me a treatment that has helped . My old GP never sent me to see a cardiologist even though I had heart problems. And my cardiologist put on treatment for PAF and found I was born with a hole in the side of my heart.

The receptionist and nurses are very good . Very good GPs and in house pharmacist and phlebotomist.

I need to find a new GP practice before I die of a heart attack brought on by the appalling attitude of the staff here in my midland practice!! They are sooo rude & I mean really, horribly rude, to the point of utter hatefulness! I can stand -up for myself but I have seen little old ladies reduced to tears by the Voldermourt-like receptionist!!
Even the so-called woman called
'The Nice Receptionist' has gone to dark-side!!
There must be something in the water or it's a cunning plan to keep patient's well away from the practice, so they can practice & improve their ratings in the dark arts together!!! 🥴
🥴

You have to follow their system but this week my DH needed to be seen urgently and he was. It is a different world now with everything !!

I’ve been with my practice for over 40 years but it has really deteriorated in the last few years. I had a text asking me to make a routine telephone appointment with a gp. The earliest they could do was in 4 weeks time and I had to keep the whole day free as they couldn’t give me a time! It was related to high blood pressure and the gp was talking about heart attacks and strokes - I could have been dead and buried by the time I got that phone call!

Our GP practice is terrible.
Haven’t seen or spoken to an actual GP in years, is always a practice nurse or assistant physician, and we can’t even get an appointment to see them half the time.
Where do all the satisfied patients live?
Down here in the South East most practices are awful.
😳

Pearl30

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. 🤷‍♀️

Absolutely like ours in the 80s/90s our Gp was a great looking Indian guy & a bit of a ladies man, I would go & see him, I would end up counselling him 🤣 he would be sat with his end in hands, rough off the drink. Died in his 50s of heart attack not surprised as his ashtray was full to the brim.
You could get anything you needed off him- never told you to buy it at the chemist.

Lesley60

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.

I just now go over the gps head & ring my gynaecologists secretary to book my Botox for my bladder- done this for the last four sessions.

Babs03

Our GP practice is terrible.
Haven’t seen or spoken to an actual GP in years, is always a practice nurse or assistant physician, and we can’t even get an appointment to see them half the time.
Where do all the satisfied patients live?
Down here in the South East most practices are awful.
😳

No idea, but they must exist, because a survey says so.

Mollygo

Babs03

Our GP practice is terrible.
Haven’t seen or spoken to an actual GP in years, is always a practice nurse or assistant physician, and we can’t even get an appointment to see them half the time.
Where do all the satisfied patients live?
Down here in the South East most practices are awful.
😳

No idea, but they must exist, because a survey says so.

They definitely exist, some of them are even on this thread?