PATIENTS of GP practices in the Downend area are continuing to have problems contacting their surgery – both by phone and online.
The latest annual NHS GP Patient Survey found that just 6% of patients of the Downend Health Group, which runs the Willow Surgery and Christchurch Family Medical Centre, found it easy to get through on the phone – against a national average of 50% – with 93% saying it was fairly or very difficult.
Only 19% of patients said it was easy to contact the practice online and 23% using the NHS app, compared with national averages of 48% and 45% respectively.
At Leap Valley Medical Centre, in Beaufort Road, 14% found it easy to get through by phone, with 82% reporting problems, a slight improvement on last year.
A third of patients (33%) found it easy to contact the surgery online, with 24% saying it was easy to use the app.
At Emersons Green Medical Centre, 9% of patients said it was easy to get through by phone, 25% said it was easy to use the website and 11% easy to use the app.
When making appointments, 22% of Downend Health Group patients said they were offered a choice of time or day, against a national average of 53%.
Just under half said they waited the right amount of time, with same-day appointments offered to 17% of survey respondents, 11% next day and 42% waiting a week or more.
At Leap Valley, 51% of patients were offered a choice of appointment time or day, with 19% being seen on the same day, 5% the next day and 53% a week or more later – 61% felt they waited too long.
At Emersons Green, 31% of patients were offered a choice of time or day for their appointment, with 6% offered a same-day appointment, 4% next day and 57% waiting a week or more – the proportion of patients who felt they waited too long was also 57%.
Overall, 54% of Downend Health Group patients said their experience of the practice was good, against a national average of 74%.
At both Leap Valley and Emersons Green, the proportion was 51%.
The survey was published as GPs voted overwhelmingly to take ‘work-to-rule’ action, including limiting the number of patient appointments per day, as representative body the British Medical Association warned practices had reached a “desperate point” due to underfunding and extra pressures.
A spokesperson for NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board, which is in charge of funding surgeries, said: “We welcome this valuable feedback on local GP services and are pleased to see that results across our area are above the national average in many areas of the survey, including people’s overall experience of their GP Practice, the trust patients have in their healthcare professional and how helpful our GP reception and administrative teams are.
“We also recognise there are areas for improvement, and we are continuing to work together with all our practices and wider partners to share learning and support each other to deliver high-quality services to patients.”