Nearly nine in ten patients are satisfied with their ability to get through to their GP practice on the telephone, according to the latest survey of almost two million patients.
The second annual GP Patient Access Survey shows that 87% of people surveyed reported being happy with telephone access to their GP practice, up slightly from 86% in 2006/7.
The survey also found that 52% recalled being offered a choice of hospital when they were referred to secondary care. The percentage recalling a discussion about choice was much lower than the results of the Choice survey, also released today, which show that 93% of patients recalled being offered choice.
The Department of Health said the difference between the two survey results could be accounted for by the different methodologies used. In the GP Patient Access Survey, completed by 1,999,523 people, required some patients to recall what happened when a referral was made several months ago. As a result it was not possible to guarantee that patients who completed the questionnaire for referrals were eligible for choice.
The Choice survey, which was used to make payments for the Choice and Booking Directed Enhanced survey, involved GPs handing patients a questionnaire at the time of referral. A total of 283,400 surveys were returned from 6,925 practices, with 93% saying choice of hospital was discussed.
On telephone access the results show that satisfaction increased with age with 92% of those aged 85 and over happy with telephone access compared to 81% of those aged 18 to 24.
Satisfaction with telephone access varied by the ethnic group of the patient. White British and White Irish patients (89% respectively) were slightly more satisfied than average (87%) with how easy it was to get through to someone on the telephone at their doctor’s surgery. Satisfaction levels were below average for all other ethnic groups – in particular among patients from Bangladeshi (70%), Pakistani (74%) and Indian (79%) backgrounds. For most ethnic groups, satisfaction levels have increased compared with 2006/07.
Other results of the GP Patient Access Survey show that 87% of people who tried to get an appointment with a GP in 48 hours were able to do so, 77% of patients who wanted to book ahead said they were able to do so and 82% of patients were satisfied with their practice’s current opening hours.
The government welcomed the results of the survey which it said showed improvements in patient satisfaction and experience.
Dr David Colin-Thome, national director for primary care, said: “As ever we can improve further and I would urge any GP or practice team member that has not already done so to review my and Professor Mayur Lakhani’s recent reports on improving access to consider how they can apply or improve on the recommendations made.”
Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA’s General Practitioner Committee, said the results showed that the vast majority of patients were getting a good service from their GP surgery.
He added: “We’re pleased patient satisfaction with their ability to get through on the phone, to book an urgent appointment and to book an advanced appointment has gone up slightly on last year. With a limited number of appointments in any one day practices try very hard to strike a balance between making sure patients who want to book ahead are able to do so and ensuring there are enough empty appointments for emergencies, and on the whole GP surgeries are getting it right.”
The Department of Health said patients could access the results of the survey on the NHS Choices website to find out how their GP practice compares to others locally. The results of the survey can also be found on the Information Centre’s website.
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