How bad is my family doctor? The definitive guide to the practices of the NHS in the UK
Curious to know how badly your local GP practice is faring amid the never-ending scheduling crisis in England?
MailOnline has put all the NHS data together in one fascinating interactive tool so you can see everything you need to know in one place. App readers can use it by clicking here.
It allows you to search any practice in the country and find out what percentage of appointments are face-to-face, how many patients are seen the same day they called, how satisfied they are with their GP – and much more more.
The data examined is from November, the latest fully comparable figures available.
This month, national statistics showed that the number of face-to-face consultations decreased 69 percent.
Bath Road Surgery in Hounslow had the lowest percentage of appointments that were face-to-face in November, at just 15.3 per cent. MailOnline did not include GP practices with more than 20 percent of appointments conducted in an “unknown” method or those offering remote consultations only
Ashburnham Road Surgery in Bedford ranked second worst for in-person appointments, at 15.5 percent
The Droylsden Road Family Practice in Manchester was one of the worst-rated GP practices in the country, according to a patient survey, with just 28 per cent rating it as ‘good’.
Whitehill Surgery in Aylesbury ranked another low in the patient survey, also at 28 percent
This was slightly below the October figure (71.3 percent), which marked the highest proportion since the start of Covid.
Despite the upward trend in 2022, the proportion of face-to-face consultations is still well below the pre-Covid 80 percent level.
Bath Road Surgery in Hounslow had the lowest percentage of in-person appointments in November, at just 15.3 per cent, according to NHS data.
It was followed by Ashburnham Road Surgery in Bedford, which was the second-worst on in-person appointments at 15.5 per cent
MailOnline did not include in its analysis practices where more than 20 percent of appointments are conducted in an “unknown” method, or those that only offer remote consultations.
But in an annual survey, the Droylsden Road Family Practice in Manchester ranked its patients among the most dissatisfied in the country.
Just 28 per cent of patients surveyed in a national NHS survey rated GP practice as ‘good’.
Whitehill Surgery in Aylesbury ranked another low in the patient survey, also at 28 percent.
Top GPs have stated that the current balance of in-person and remote appointments is about right and that patients should not be given an in-person appointment unless there is a clinical need for it.
But campaign groups disagree, warning phone or online calls aren’t for everyone and aren’t always the best way to diagnose patients.
Brits are also suffering the “8am scramble” to get a doctor’s appointment as people concerned about health issues flood the practice’s phone lines to contact their GP.
This map shows the 50 GP surgeries with the lowest proportion of face-to-face appointments, according to official NHS data. MailOnline’s analysis excluded practices where the method of scheduling appointments was unknown for more than 20 percent of their consultations and where the GP service did not routinely offer regular face-to-face appointments, such as B. Nursing services. NHS Digital describes this data as “experimental”, meaning it may not capture the full picture and is more prone to reporting errors
The proportion of GP appointments held face-to-face fell to 69 percent in November, a slight reversal after months of steady improvement since last February. The number, while higher than the pandemic lows, is still a far cry from the 80 per cent of appointments that were held in person before Covid
The latest NHS data on GP appointments for November showed the majority were not with a GP but were picked up by another staff member such as a nurse or paramedic
Despite several health ministers promising changes, activists and patient advocates are concerned that not enough is being done to resolve the crisis.
Some have even added that it appears “certain practices don’t want to see patients” and are concerned remote consultations are becoming the norm for some of Britain’s GPs, who earn an average of £110,000 a year.
Why Britons are struggling to get a doctor’s appointment is complicated.
It was caused in part by hundreds of surgeries that have closed over the past decade, forcing millions of patients to switch doctors.
NHS statistics show fewer than 6,500 practices were open in England this year – down from 8,100 in 2013.
Practice closures are putting even more pressure on remaining GPs as patients from those closing their doors join “soulless” mega-practices.
Many GPs are now warning that GPs are responsible for too many patients, with some parts of the country now coming in at over 1,000 patients per doctor.
Official figures show that the average salary of GPs rose by around £10,000 to nearly £112,000 during the pandemic in the last reporting period
Last month there were just 27,558 fully qualified full-time equivalent general practitioners working in England, down 1.6 per cent from the 18,000 in June 2021. It was a 5.3 percent drop from the more than 29,000 working in June 2017
Experts have said it’s both unsafe for patients – who are rushed through appointments by doctors with massive workloads – and contributes to burnout among GPs.
Many GPs choose to retire in their 50s, go abroad, or work in the private sector because of complaints about increasing demand, paperwork, and aggressive media coverage.
At the same time, the population has also grown, increasing the size of the patient list.
MailOnline’s data is compiled from several different NHS sources.
Not all GP practices reported data to all of these different sources, meaning that some aspects of their services are unknown.
In addition, the data on in-person appointments is classified as experimental by the health services statistics agency NHS Digital, meaning it may have errors that affect the data.
Patient experience data comes from the most recent annual GP Patient Survey, an NHS-funded survey which collects information from two million Britons on their experiences of primary care.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
https://www.soundhealthandlastingwealth.com/health-news/how-bad-is-my-gp-the-definitive-guide-to-uks-nhs-practices/ How bad is my family doctor? The definitive guide to the practices of the NHS in the UK
