Patient Surveys

Patient Survey 2023

The NHS continues to take on the significant backlog of care that had to be postponed due to COVID, and GPs, Nurses and their teams share the frustrations of patients at the waiting times for our own appointments, those in hospital and other community services.

Here are the results of patient’s views from January to April 2023, with 104 surveys returned from 471 sent by Ipsos MORI (Completion Rate 22%). The results were published in July 2023 on www.gp-patient.co.uk.

Overview

Comparing Similar-sized Sandwell Surgeries

  • Again we’re comparing well to similar-sized surgeries in our area but we’d like to also note that in each of these questions our surgeries are improving:
  • Getting through to the practice by phone: 31% this year compared to 23% last year
  • Receptionists rated as helpful: 79% this year compared with 67% last year- now above the regional ICS average
  • Satisfaction with appointment times: 40% this year compared to 37% last year
  • Getting to speak to their preferred GP: 22% this year compared to 17% last year.
  • Please don’t think we’re happy with these results – we want to provide sufficient appointments for your needs and with your preferred GP but demand continues to outstrip supply.
  • With new staff appointments in 2024 we are finally able to fill our longstanding vacancies, although this may not be reflected in patient surveys until 2025.

Making an Appointment

  • Another full set of improvements in results compared to last year’s results for our surgeries on the topic of making an appointment, with last year’s results 49%, 49%, 92% and 35% for the above questions.
  • Appointments remain bookable in the following types:
  • Book ahead Telephone appointments
  • Book ahead Face-to-face appointments
  • On-the-day Telephone appointments
  • On-the-day Face-to-face appointments
  • On-the-day Patient-choice appointments- you choose whether phone or face-to-face.
  • Online book ahead Patient-choice appointments
  • Again every day an On Call GP has same-day evening appointments at one of our sites and each fo our GPs can choose to bring in those patients calling in if seeing the patient would be required.

Your Last Appointment

  • Good news- last year we noticed that our score for giving patients enough time had dropped to 71%. This year at 84% we’re back above the regional (ICS) average again as well as the score for treating patients with care and concern.
  • A full house of improvements again here, with scores of 70%, 81%, 86% and 85% last year.
  • We’re very proud that three of the questions are reaching 90% or higher, meeting the needs, maintaining the trust and involving our patients in their care.

Your Health

It’s been a year of improvements despite the challenges.

Of the 18 questions in the survey, the practice has improved scores compared to last year in 16 of those 18. (Our 97% score for being given a time couldn’t be improved this year!)

We’re very glad our efforts to improve on last year have started to come through
 
Thank you once gain for your responses which were discussed with the practice team.

Patient Survey 2022

2022 was another challenging year, as the NHS moved from the early years of the pandemic and the largest vaccination programme ever conducted in British History, with 75% of these vaccines administered from General Practice Teams.

The NHS now has to take on the significant backlog of care that had to be postponed due to COVID, and GPs, Nurses and their teams share the frustrations of patients at the waiting times for our own appointments, those in hospital and other community services.

Here are the results of patient’s views from January to March 2022, with 111 surveys returned from 436 sent by Ipsos MORI (Completion Rate 25%). The results were published in July 2022 on www.gp-patient.co.uk.

Overview

Comparing Similar-sized Sandwell Surgeries

  • We can’t say we’re happy with the result. Yes, we do compare favourably with similar-sized surgeries but the health service is suffering and we are no different. We want to be able to provide the sufficient numbers for appointments but the level of demand has far outstripped our ability to supply.
  • This all creates an environment where it becomes difficult to recruit new staff and hold onto the staff members we have. During the time of this survey the practice has lost two Nursing staff and one GP, which has significantly affected the contintuity of care we know our patients and staff value.
  • We look forward to having our staff members return from parental leave and successful recruitment to our vacancies, which will significantly increase our quantity of appointments and quality of care.

Making An Appointment

  • Choice of appointments is something we’re working on. Previously through the pandemic we were strongly advised by NHS England to keep our waiting rooms as clear as possible to avoid risk of COVID infection by using remote consulting (through video or telephone), with face-to-face consultations spaced out to allow patients to be seen in surgery when necessary, without exposing patients to excess risk when attending, especially for those patients who were clinically vulnerable to COVID.
  • Our 2022 changes involve each surgery having the following appointment types:
  • Book ahead Telephone Appointments (saving the need for time off work)
  • Book ahead Face-to-face Appointments
  • On-the-day Telephone Appointments (saving the need for time off work)
  • On-the-day Face-to-face Appointments
  • On-the-day Patient Choice Appointments (your choice of phone or face-to-face)
  • Each day an on-call GP has an evening surgery with appointment slots which are all available for On-the-day bookings, and each GP has the ability to bring in any of the patients phoning in who we feel needs to be seen in surgery.
  • Some patients just need the problem they have sorting- that’s normal. This is why we have On-the-day appointments. Who that appointment is with isn’t as important as getting the slot on the day.
  • Other patients with long term conditions will need to book ahead for their next review, and both patients and professionals prefer continuity here.
  • It’s our job to try and provide appointments for both of these groups; not easy but we hope the above changes focus on what is convenient for our patients.

Your Last Appointment

  • The main message we’re seeing here is our staff need to ensure we come back to previous levels of giving enough time. Comparing to last year and the gaps to our similar-sized surgeries elsewhere in 2021 this area is the one question where we have fallen most.
  • The drop in response on mental health needs is very disappointing to see. We were delighted with the improvements made in 2021 on this question and it is sad to see this isn’t the experience in 2022. We recognise the mental health impact of the pandemic and our patients lives, and this needs to be recognised within our contacts with you, along with the need to ensure our patients are involved in their healthcare decisions as much as they wish to be.
  • We’ve always been proud to be the standout surgery compared to similar-sized practices so this feedback helps to remind us what our patients value. It’s lovely to see we still meet the needs of our patients in such challenging times in 85% of cases, and that we maintain your confidence and trust.

Your Health

It’s a consolation that despite the significant drop in patient satisfaction across the NHS and from our own registered patients, that we are still managing to offer a ‘Good’ Overall Experience more often than our similar-sized practices in the area.
 
We aim to improve these figures next year through the above appointment changes and our commitment with the staff we have to ensure the time, care and concern to cover whatever physical and mental health needs are attended to, offering patients the choice of how involved they wish to be in their care.
 
Thank you again for your responses which have been shared within the practice team