News

GP Patient Survey 2013

Aggregated data for January to March & July to September 2013.

NHS England together with Ipsos MORI, have today published the latest Official Statistics from the GP Patient Survey. The survey provides information on patients’ overall experience of primary care services and their overall experience of accessing these services.

The latest publication uses data collected over two separate periods, results collected during January to March and July to September 2013. Results span the pre-transition and post-transition NHS organisational structures which came into effect 1 April 2013.

Reflecting NHS England’s current organisational structure, results are published at national, GP practice, Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) & Area Team level.

Summary of Headline Results

Overall response rate 35% based 943,138 responses across two aggregated waves. 

GP Services

  • 86.2% of patients rate their overall experience of their GP practice as good, a decrease of 1.4 percentage points since the results published in December 2012.
  • 75.5% of patients rate their overall experience of making an appointment as good, a decrease of 2.4 percentage points since the results published in December 2012.
  • 92.2% of patients find making an appointment convenient, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points since the results published in December 2012
  • 73.9% of patients find that it is easy to get through to their GP surgery on the phone, a decrease of 2.7 percentage points since the results published in December 2012.
  • 87.6% of patients find the receptionist at the GP surgery helpful, a decrease of 0.9 percentage points since the results published in December 2012.
  • 79.6% of patients would prefer to book appointments by phone while 89.6% of patients actually do book appointments by phone; 32.5% of patients would prefer to book appointments online while 3.9% of patients actually do book appointments online.
  • 64.2% of patients definitely have confidence and trust in the last GP they saw, a decrease of 0.7 percentage points since the results published in December 2012.
  • 78.6% of patients are satisfied with their GP surgery opening hours, a decrease of 1.8 percentage points since the results published in December 2012

Out-of-hours GP Services

  • 67.5% of patients describe their overall experience of out-of-hours GP services as good, a decrease of 3.3 percentage points since the results published in December 2012.
  • 76.2% of patients describe contacting their out-of-hours-GP services by telephone as easy, a decrease of 3.3 percentage points since the results published in December 2012.
  • 79.8% of patients reported that they have at least some level of confidence and trust in their out-of-hours clinician, a decrease of 2.0 percentage points since the results published in December 2012.

Managing Your Health

  • 53.6% of patients report they have a long-standing health condition.
  • 88.1% of patients with a long-standing health condition rate their overall experience of their GP surgery as good, 3.8 percentage points higher than patients with no long-standing health conditions.
  • 77.5% of patients with a long-standing health condition rate their overall experience of making an appointment as good, 4.4 percentage points higher than patients with no long-standing health conditions.
  • 67.3% of patients with a long-standing health condition rate their overall experience of out-of-hours GP services as good, 0.8 percentage points lower than patients with no long-standing health condition.
  • 64.0% of people with a long-standing health condition feel they have enough support from local services to help them manage their condition. This shows no significant change since the results published in December 2012.

Planning Your Care

  • 3.1% of all patients responding to the questionnaire say they have a written care plan, 93.9% report that they do not have a written care plan and 2.9% report that they do not know if they have a written care plan.
  • Of all those patients who say they have a written care plan, 60.6% say that a GP, nurse or other health professional regularly reviews their written care plan.

Your State of Health Today

  • 65.8% of people with a long standing health condition reported at least some problems with pain or discomfort, compared to 26.0% of patients with no long-standing conditions.
  • 9.7% of respondents with a longstanding health condition reported severe problems walking or were unable to walk about, compared to 0.2% of patients with no long-standing conditions.
  • 41.4% of patients with a long standing health condition reported at least some problems with anxiety or depression, compared to 19.3% of patients with no long-standing conditions.
  • 24.2% of respondents with a standing health condition said their activity on the day of the questionnaire had been limited due to illness or injury, compared to 10.7% of patients with no long-standing conditions.

NHS Dental Access

Results for questions in the GP Patient Survey relating to NHS Dental Services can be found here.

Supporting Documentation