Southport and Formby are performing better than most practices across the country in many areas of the latest independent patient experience survey.

The GP Patient Survey carried out by Ipsos MORI is sent to over a million people across the UK annually, and the results show how people feel about their GP practice.

It assesses patients’ experience of healthcare services provided by GP surgeries, including their access to practices, making appointments, the quality of care received from doctors and practice nurses, satisfaction with opening hours, in addition to NHS out-of-hours and dental services.

Key local findings in this year’s survey include:

• 87% described the overall experience of their GP surgery as good with a national average of 85%
• 89% said that the helpfulness of receptionists at GP surgeries was helpful compared to national average of 87%
• 85% of patients said they were able to get an appointment the last time they tried, and of those, 94% said their appointment was fairly or very convenient compared to national results of 84% and 92% respectively
• 65% said that they didn’t wait too long to be seen at the GP practice compared to national result of 58%
• 97% of patients said they had confidence and trust in the last GP they saw compared to national result of 95%

Dr Rob Caudwell, chair of NHS Southport and Formby CCG, said: “It is good to see that we are over the national average for all of these indicators. We are really proud of what the GP services have achieved despite the well-recognised national challenges that we face, as well as the financial difficulties with our funding for GP services being below the national average for our population in Southport and Formby.

“We strive to keep our patients happy and it is important to us that they have a positive experience from booking an appointment through to waiting times and confidence in the GP that they see.

“A huge thank you goes to all of the staff at the individual practices who work extremely hard to keep up these high standards. They are the ones at the forefront speaking and helping on a daily basis to ensure that our patients get the right care.”

More information on the GP Patient Survey data publications can be found on NHS England's website.