Devon rated second best in England for GP satisfaction

Patients in Devon have had their say on local access to general practice in the latest national GP Patient Survey, published by NHS England last week.

The results show that almost 8 in 10 people are satisfied with their local practice, some of the highest achievement seen across the country.

Satisfaction rates overall have decreased slightly from last year, but Devon is still performing better that other areas, with 78% of people describing their experience of their GP practice as good.

A further 93% of patients surveyed felt their needs were met at their last GP appointment and for almost 72% of those surveyed in Devon, their last GP appointment was face-to-face.

The GP Patient Survey (GPPS) is an England-wide survey, providing data about patients’ experiences of their GP practices. In Devon, more than 14,300 people responded to the survey and shared their experiences. Administered by Ipsos on behalf of NHS England, the survey covers a range of topics including local GP services.

Dr Nigel Acheson, Chief Medical Officer at NHS Devon, said: “We have excellent primary care services in Devon, and I am pleased to see we are well above national average for GP satisfaction across Devon.

“Our Devon GP practices have performed incredibly well considering the extreme challenges they continue to face. The current demand for GP appointments is way above that seen pre-pandemic levels, and there has been significant growth in the appointments that are now offered to patients.

“However, we know there is variation between our practices and the experience of our patients.

“The results signal there is a lot of work to do right across the country to improve sustainability for general practice and staff satisfaction, as well as patient experience.

“We are already working with our local practices to improve capacity and access and will continue to do so as we focus on expanded clinical teams within practices, improved access to digital tools, and better systems for navigating patients to the right care for them.”

There are also several hundred more people working in general practice than pre-pandemic in a wider variety of clinical roles including clinical pharmacists, paramedics and advanced nurse practitioners.

The nationally published GP appointment data (GPAD) shows Devon practices are offering almost 50% of their appointments within one working day of the patient contacting their practice and are consistently exceeding targets on this.