Results from the Ipsos MORI-led GP patient survey for July to September 2011, found that 88% of patients rated their overall experience with their GP practice as good.
Most patients were satisfied with the accessibility of their GP. Over a third of patients (36%) said they were able to see or speak to someone the day they contacted the surgery and one in seven (14%) saw someone the next working day.
The majority (93%) of patients said that the appointment they were given was convenient and (48%) described their appointment as 'very' convenient.
According to the survey the overwhelming majority of patients (93%) had trust and confidence in their GP.
Nearly 90% of patients felt that their GP was good at listening (88%), and treated them with care and concern (84%). The majority also felt that their GP gave them enough time (86%) and was good at explaining tests and treatments (83%).
A slightly smaller majority felt that their GP was good at involving them in decisions regarding their care (76%).
Patient satisfaction was also high for out-of-hours care. Over 80% of patients (82%) said they had trust and confidence in their out-of-hours clinician. However 12% of patients said they did not have trust in the clinician they saw or spoke to.
Over half of all patients (58%) said they knew how to contact an out-of-hours provider and 13% said they had tried to call an out-of-hours service in the past six months.
The majority of patients (80%) who did contact the service found it easy to do so; 37% described it as ‘very’ easy.
Most patients (63%) were satisfied with the amount of time it took to receive out-of-hours care, saying the time taken was ‘about right’. However over a third (31%) felt that the care took too long.
Overall the survey found that the majority of patients were happy with the GP; 88% said they had a good overall experience of their GP surgery. Just under half (46%) described their experience as ‘very’good.
The majority of patients (82%) would recommend their GP surgery, with half (51%) saying they would ‘definitely’ recommend it. Only 6% of patients who responded to the survey said they would not recommend their GP practice to others.
