Patient experience with GPs in Derbyshire improving

A health think tank said policy makers and GPs know more must still be done, especially for poorer areas that are "under-funded" and "under-doctored".

The Office for National Statistics' most recent health insight survey carried out in March received responses from 674 people who tried to contact their GP in NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board recently.

Of them, 64.8% said it was an overall "good" experience – an improvement from 61.4% recorded in the first wave of the survey which started at the end of July 2024.

Meanwhile, the proportion of patients reporting an overall "poor" experience rose from 18.9% in the first survey to 21.9% in the most recent one. The rest said their experience was neither good nor poor.

Across England, 73.6% of patients said their experience with their GP was good, and 10% said it was poor. It marked an improvement from seven months prior, when 67.4% reported a good experience and 15% a poor experience.

Health think tank the Nuffield Trust said the recent ONS data is "welcome news".

Dr Becks Fisher, director of research and policy and a practising GP, said: "These are from a low baseline though, and policymakers, GPs and their teams will know that more needs to be done.

"This is particularly the case in poorer areas, which are relatively under-funded, under-doctored and where patient experience of general practice tends to be worse."

The ONS data also shows 16.3% of the 644 people who successfully contacted their GP a month prior to the recent survey, said it was "difficult" – down from 22.5% in the first study.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "These figures are encouraging and show how our Plan for Change is bringing back the family doctor and delivering improved services for patients."

They added the Government has hired more than 1,500 extra GPs and has already announced an extra £889 million in funding for the sector.

They said: "But we know there is more to do. We will continue cutting red tape so family doctors spend less time filling in forms and more time caring for patients, and we’ve earmarked £100 million to upgrade GP facilities across England - boosting productivity and allowing more appointments to be delivered."