We all know the struggle of sitting in the 8am telephone queue for GP appointments, but according to the latest GP Patient survey, this is much better for some people in Greater Manchester than others.
The annual GP Patient Survey, produced by Ipsos on behalf of NHS England, asked people across the country what they think the care they receive from their GP surgery. One of the questions asked about their satisfaction with the overall appointment booking process.
Around half (54%) of respondents across England said that they had an overall ‘good’ experience of booking an appointment – a 1.8 percentage point drop from the previous year’s figures and the lowest percentage since the survey began in its current form in 2018.
More than a quarter of respondents (28%) said they had a ‘poor’ experience, the highest in six years, while 18% said it was ‘neither good nor poor’.
The survey took place between January and April 2023, with 760,000 patients responding – 29% of those invited to participate.
Patients were able to say whether their experience of booking an appointment was ‘very good’ or ‘fairly good’ or ‘very poor’ or ‘fairly poor’. For the purpose of this analysis the ‘very good’ and ‘fairly good’ responses have been combined, as have the ‘very poor’ and ‘fairly poor’ responses.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We’re committed to increasing capacity so GP practices can offer more appointments from more staff than ever before.
“Appointments are already on the rise, and we recently announced £240 million of support to practices across the UK to embrace the latest technology, tackle the 8am rush and make it easier for patients to see their GP.”
Here we reveal the 12 GP surgeries that patients said were the best for booking an appointment in the Greater Manchester area.
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