News

GP Patient Survey 2020

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.

Data are weighted by age and gender so that results resemble the eligible registered list population of each practice and CCG.

The latest survey consisted of around 2.3 million postal questionnaires sent out to adults registered with GP practices in England from January 2020 to the end of March 2020. Around 740,000 patients completed and returned a questionnaire, resulting in a national response rate of 31.7%.

Covid-19 and the GP Patient Survey

This survey provides insight into patients’ experiences of general practice in the period prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. The survey fieldwork ran from January to the end of March, with a week allowed at the end for postal questionnaires to be returned. Due to the very small proportion of responses received in the last weeks of fieldwork, the results of the survey as a whole and the validity of comparisons between the 2020 survey and previous surveys have not been impacted.

Summary of key headlines

A summary of some of the key headlines from the 2020 weighted results are provided below. For a more detailed overview of the results please see the data and reports published on the survey’s main website:

Trends

There are now three comparable years of data (2018, 2019 and 2020) following the significant developments to the survey in 2018. Two key changes were made to the GP Patient Survey for the 2018 publication; the content of the GPPS questionnaire was changed significantly to reflect new ways of working and the sample frame was extended to include 16-17 years olds to improve inclusivity of the survey. These changes led to the loss of comparability for most question results at national level, and all question results at CCG and GP practice level. The 2018 results are the new baseline from which we can begin to monitor changes over time (there are a small number of questions that can be compared back to 2012 which were not affected by the developments in the previous year).

Changes to the survey

There were no changes to the questionnaire this year from the 2019 questionnaire, A full redevelopment process was undertaken in 2018 as outlined above. In 2019, the response option ‘A developmental disability, such as autism or ADHD’ to the long-term condition, disability or illness question was replaced with ‘Autism or autism spectrum condition’.

Overall Experience

  • The majority of individuals (81.8%) rated their overall experience of their GP practice as good, with more than two in five (43.6%) rating their experience as ‘very good’. Compared with 2019, the proportion of patients who rated their experience as good has decreased by 1.2 percentage points from 82.9%.
  • Around two thirds of patients (65.5%) rated their overall experience of making an appointment as good, with over a quarter saying it was ‘very good’ (27.6%). Compared with 2019, the proportion of patients who rated their experience as good has decreased by 1.9 percentage points from 67.4%.
  • Around one in five patients (21.7%) say they tried to contact an NHS service in the past 12 months when they wanted to see a GP but their GP practice was closed, either for themselves or for someone else. Of these, two thirds (67.3%) rated their overall experience of these services as good, with over three in ten (30.1%) saying it was ‘very good’. Compared with 2019, the proportion of patients who rated their experience as good has decreased by 2.1 percentage points from 68.7%.

Access

  • Of patients who had tried, around two thirds of patients (65.2%) said it was easy to get through to their GP practice on the phone, a decrease of 3.1 percentage points compared with 2019 (68.3%).
  • The majority of patients (88.9%) said the receptionists at their GP practice were helpful, a decrease of 0.4 percentage points from 2019 (89.4%).
  • Over six in ten patients (63.0%) were satisfied with the appointment times available to them a decrease of 1.7 percentage points compared with 2019 (64.7%).
  • Half of all patients (50.0%) have a GP they prefer to see for some or all of their appointments. Less than half of patients who have a preferred GP said they saw them always, almost always or a lot of the time (45.1%), a decrease of 2.9 percentage points compared with 2019 (51.8%).

Online GP services

  • The majority of patients (76.3%) said they had booked an appointment over the phone in the 12 months before completing the survey. Two in five (41.6%) had booked in person, and over one in ten (14.4%) had booked online (including on an app).
  • Almost half of patients (48.3%) were aware they could book appointments online, an increase of 4.2 percentage points compared with 2019 (44.1%). More than two in five patients (43.7%) were aware they could order repeat prescriptions online, an increase of 3.0 percentage points compared with 2019 (40.6%). Fewer patients (18.7%) were aware they could access medical records online, an increase of 3.3 percentage points compared with 2019 (15.4%).
  • Around one in three patients (35.9%) were unsure whether these services were available at their GP practice, while less than one in ten patients (7.0%) believed that none of these options were available (decreases of 3.8 percentage points and 0.4 percentage points respectively compared with 2019).
  • Almost one in five patients (18.8%) said they’d used online services in the last 12 months to order repeat prescriptions, an increase of 2.6 percentage points compared with 2019 (16.2%). A similar proportion had used online services to book appointments (18.1%), an increase of 3.2 percentage points compared with 2019 (14.9%). Fewer patients (5.8%) say they used online services to access their medical records in the past 12 months, an increase of 1.5 percentage points compared with 2019 (1.5%).
  • Just over two in five patients (42.0%) had tried to use their GP practice website to access information or services, an increase of 3.8 percentage points compared with 2019 (38.2%).
  • Of patients who had tried to use their GP practice website, around three in four (76.2%) found their GP practice website easy to use, a decrease of 0.7 percentage points compared with 2019 (77.0%).

Appointments

  • Over six in ten patients (60.4%) were offered a choice of appointment (choice of time/day, location, and/or healthcare professional), a decrease of 1.3 percentage points compared with 2019 (61.7%).
  • Over seven in ten patients (72.7%) were satisfied with the appointment they were offered last time they tried to make one, a decrease of 0.9 percentage points compared with 2019 (73.6%).
  • Overall, most patients (93.5%) said they accepted the appointment they were offered, a decrease of 0.4 percentage points from 2019 (93.8%).

Last Appointment

  • Around seven in ten patients (69.7%) waited 15 minutes or less after their appointment time to be seen, similar to 2019 (69.5%).
  • Over nine in ten patients (93.0%) felt involved in decisions about their care and treatment, a decrease of 0.4 percentage points from 2019 (93.4%).
  • Over four in five patients (85.4%) felt the healthcare professional recognised or understood their mental health needs, a decrease of 0.8 percentage points compared with 2019 (86.2%).
  • Most patients (95.3%) had confidence and trust in the healthcare professional they saw, similar to 2019 (95.5%).
  • Most patients (94.2%) felt their needs were met during their last appointment, similar to 2019 (94.5%).

Your Health

  • Over half of all patients (53.4%) said they had one or more long-term physical or mental health conditions, disabilities or illnesses, 44.5% of patients said they have none of these, and 2.2% preferred not to say.
  • The most commonly reported conditions, disabilities or illnesses are ‘Arthritis or ongoing problem with back or joints’ (18.3%) and ‘High blood pressure’ (17.1%).
  • Of patients who said they have one or more long-term condition, disability or illnesses, 77.5% said they had support from local services or organisations to help them manage their condition(s), a decrease of 0.9 percentage points compared with 2019 (78.4%).
  • Over eight in ten patients (83.3%) with a long term condition felt confident they could manage any issues arising from their condition(s), similar to 2019 (83.6%).
  • Of patients who say they had a long-term condition, 40.3% have had a conversation with a healthcare professional about what is important to them when managing their condition(s), an increase of 0.8 percentage points compared with 2019 (39.5%). Of these patients, 60.7% had agreed a plan with a healthcare professional to manage their condition(s), an increase of 0.4 percentage points from 2019 (60.3%), and over nine in ten (94.1%) found this plan (very or fairly) helpful in managing their condition(s).

When your GP practice is closed

  • Just over one in five patients (21.7%) had contacted an NHS service when their GP practice was closed, similar to 2019 (21.7%).
  • Over three in five patients (63.4%) thought the time taken to receive care or advice on this occasion was about right, a 2.5 percentage point decrease compared with 2019 (66.0%).
  • Over nine in ten patients (90.8%) had confidence and trust in the people they saw or spoke to on this occasion, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points compared with 2019 (91.1%).

NHS Dentistry results

  • Results for questions in the GP Patient Survey relating to NHS dental services forms part of NHS England’s dental statistics.

Supporting documentation