People in deprived areas ‘less satisfied with GP surgeries’

Satisfaction with GP surgeries is lower among adults living in deprived areas, younger age groups and people from Asian ethnic backgrounds, according to a new monthly survey that measures experiences of using the NHS in England.

Nearly one in five (19.1%) adults living in the most deprived areas are likely to describe their overall experience of their local GP practice as “poor”, compared with around one in seven (13.5%) in the least deprived, figures suggest.

There is a marked difference of opinion between the oldest and youngest age groups, with just 9.1% of people aged 75 and over and 11.0% of 65 to 74-year-olds describing their surgery as poor, jumping to 18.9% of 25-34 year-olds and 19.0% of those aged 16-24.

Adults from Asian ethnic groups were “significantly more likely” to perceive their experience of using their local practice as poor (29.0% of respondents) than other groups such as black (13.0%), white (14.3%) and mixed (16.1%).

The figures are among the first results to be released from a new survey that has been commissioned by NHS England and is being run by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Each month it will explore adults’ experiences of using a range of healthcare services, including GP surgeries, dentists and pharmacies.

It is hoped that over time the results will highlight potential pressures and emerging issues for the NHS as well as support the delivery of wider services.

The first survey was carried out between July 23 and August 15 among 104,109 people aged 16 and over living in England.

Overall, more than two-thirds (67.4%) of respondents described their experience of using their local GP surgery as good, 15.0% said poor and 17.6% said neither good nor poor.

Of those who had attempted to contact their surgery in the previous 28 days, almost all (94.3%) were successful and more than three-quarters (76.8%) managed to make contact the same day.

Just over half (52.1%) had made contact by telephone while around a third (33.5%) used online methods such as a surgery website or the NHS app.

For adults who were offered a face-to-face appointment, 38.9% were booked for the same day, 44.5% were booked within two weeks and 16.6% were booked for over two weeks after making contact with their practice.

The survey also found that more than half (52.1%) of respondents had an NHS dentist, and of those who attended an NHS dental appointment in the last 28 days, 89.5% were satisfied with the care they received.

Around nine in 10 (90.6%) of respondents who did not have a dentist, and who had tried to make an NHS dental appointment in the last 28 days, reported they were unsuccessful.

The majority of adults (85.0%) who had used an NHS pharmacy service in the last 28 days said they were satisfied with the most recent service they had received, but of those who had been dispensed an NHS prescription, one in five (20.1%) had a problem getting their items.