GP Patient Survey 2023

NHS England together with Ipsos, 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 survey consisted of around 2.65 million questionnaires sent out to patients aged 16 or over registered with GP practices in England from 3rd January 2023 to the 3rd April 2023. Around 760,000 patients completed and returned a questionnaire, resulting in a national response rate of 28.6%.

Results are weighted. Weighting ensures results are more representative of the population of patients aged 16 or over registered with a GP practice.

Changes to the 2023 survey

Minor changes were made to the questionnaire in 2023 to ensure that it continued to reflect how primary care services are delivered and how patients experience them. For more information on the redevelopment of the questionnaire please view the survey’s technical annex.

Trends

There are 6 comparable years of data (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023) for most of the GP Patient Survey questions.

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.

Summary of key headlines

A summary of some of the key headlines from the 2023 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:

• GP Patient Survey

Overall Experience

• 71.3% of patients rated their overall experience of their GP practice as good, with 36.8% rating their experience as ‘very good’. Compared with 2022, the proportion of patients who rated their experience as good has decreased by 1.1 percentage points from 72.4%.
• 54.4% of patients rated their overall experience of making an appointment as good, with 22.7% saying it was ‘very good’. Compared with 2022, the proportion of patients who rated their experience as good has decreased by 1.8 percentage points from 56.2%.
• Around 1 in 4 patients (24.1%) said 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, 44.9% rated their overall experience of these services as good, with 17.2% saying it was ‘very good’. Compared with 2022, the proportion of patients who reported a good experience of NHS services when their GP practice was closed has decreased by 5.3 percentage points from 50.2%.

Access

• Of patients who had tried, approximately half (49.8%) said it was easy to get through to their GP practice on the phone, a decrease of 2.9 percentage points compared with 2022 (52.7%).
• Around in 8 in 10 (82.2%) said the receptionists at their GP practice were helpful, similar to 2022 (82.1%).
• 52.8% of patients were satisfied with the appointment times available to them, a decrease of 2.4 percentage points compared with 2022 (55.2%).
• Around two in five patients (41.5%) have a GP they prefer to see or speak to. Of these patients, 35.4% said they saw them either “always or almost always” or “a lot of the time”, a decrease of 2.8 percentage points from 2022 (38.2%).

Online GP services

• Around 1 in 3 patients (32.9%) said they’d used online services in the last 12 months to order repeat prescriptions. 23.4% said they’d used online services to book appointments, 17.1% said they used online services to access their medical records in the past 12 months, whilst 11.1% had filled in an online form. 46.5% of patients reported not using any of these online services in the past 12 months.
• Approximately 3 in 5 patients (60.7%) had tried to use their GP practice website to access information or services, an increase of 0.3 percentage points compared with 2022 (60.4%).
• Of patients who had tried to use their GP practice website, 64.8% found their GP practice website easy to use, a decrease of 1.9 percentage points compared with 2022 (66.7%).

Making an appointment

•  59.2% of patients were offered a choice of appointment when they last tried to book one (a choice of time/day, place, type, and/or healthcare professional), an increase of 0.7 percentage points compared with 2022 (58.5%).
• Around 7 in 10 patients (72.0%) were satisfied with the appointment they were offered last time they tried to make one, similar to 2022 (71.9%).
• 35.5% of patients said they got an appointment to speak to someone on the phone the last time they tried to make one, 0.8% said they spoke to someone on a video call, and 0.7% said they had an appointment to message someone online or by text message.
• 59.1% said they got an appointment to see someone at their GP practice the last time they tried to make one, 3.4% got an appointment to see someone at another general practice location, while 0.4% got a home visit.
• Of patients who were offered an appointment, most (96.1%) said they accepted the appointment. 15.9% did not initially get an appointment the last time they tried to make one for themselves or someone else (either an appointment was not offered or was not accepted).
• Of patients who needed an appointment in the past 12 months, 51.4% said they had avoided making one (55.4% in the 2022 survey). 27.9% avoided making one because they’d found it too difficult (26.5% in the 2022 survey). 15.1% did so because they were worried about the burden on the NHS (19.7% in the 2022 survey). 5.0% avoided making an appointment if they needed one because they were worried about the risk of catching COVID-19 (12.0% in the 2022 survey), whilst a 9.9% stated they didn’t have time (8.0% in the 2022 survey).

Last Appointment

• Around 9 in 10 patients (90.3%) felt involved in decisions about their care and treatment, an increase of 0.4 percentage points from 2022 (89.9%).
• Around 8 in 10 patients (81.3%) felt the healthcare professional recognised and/or understood their mental health needs, an increase of 0.6 percentage points compared with 2022 (80.8%).
• Most patients (93.0%) had confidence and trust in the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to, similar to 2022 (93.1%).
• Most patients (91.0%) felt their needs were met during their last appointment, the same as in 2022 (91.0%).

Your Health

• 8.7% of patients felt isolated from others in the past 12 months, a decrease of 3.5 percentage points compared with 2022 (12.2%).
• 56.1% of patients said they had one or more long-term physical or mental health conditions, disabilities, or illnesses. 40.7% of patients said they have none of these, and 3.2% preferred not to say.
• The most commonly reported conditions, disabilities or illnesses were ‘Arthritis or ongoing problem with back or joints’ (18.4%) and ‘High blood pressure’ (16.6%).
• Of patients who said they have any long-term condition, disability or illness and/or described themselves as having long COVID, around 2 in 3 (65.1%) said they had enough support from local services or organisations to help them manage their condition(s) over the past 12 months, an increase of 0.3 percentage points compared with 2022 (64.7%).
• 77.4% of patients with a long-term condition, disability or illness and/or who described themselves as having long COVID, felt confident they could manage any issues arising from their condition(s), a decrease of 0.6 percentage points compared with 2022 (78.0%).
• 36.8% of patients with a long-term condition, disability, or illness and/or who described themselves as having long COVID, have had a conversation with a healthcare professional about what is important to them when managing their condition(s), an increase of 1.8 percentage points compared with 2022 (35.0%). Of these patients, 58.7% had agreed a plan with a healthcare professional to manage their condition(s), a decrease of 2.7 percentage points compared with 2022 (61.4%).
• 93.0% of patients found this plan (very or fairly) helpful in managing their condition(s), a decrease of 0.6 percentage points compared with 2022 (93.6%).

When your GP practice is closed

• Around 1 in 4 patients (24.1%) had contacted an NHS service when their GP practice was closed, an increase of 1.5 percentage points compared with 2022 (22.6%).
• 9% thought the time taken to receive care or advice on this occasion was about right, a 7.6 percentage point decrease compared with 2022 (53.4%).

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 information

• Pre-release access list