National GP Survey 2016
“The National GP Patient Survey is an independent survey run by Ipsos MORI on behalf of NHS England.”
The GP Patient Survey (GPPS) is an England-wide survey that provides data on patients’ experiences of
their GP practices on a range of topics.
The data is based on the January 2016 GPPS publication, which combined two waves of fieldwork; from
January to March 2015 and July to September 2015.
In Wiltshire, 13,622 questionnaires were distributed and 6,986 were returned.
Millstream Medical Centre received an 81% satisfaction rating.
We have 6000 registered patients, however only 258 surveys were sent out. This is a mere 4.3% of our
patient cohort. 110 surveys were returned which is equivalent to only 1.8% of our patient numbers.
Although not a true representation of all of our patients’ views, we have used the survey to gather
feedback on areas that we excel, as well as areas that require improvement.
According to the survey, the 3 areas that we deliver on are, keeping our patient waiting times to less than
15 minutes, our patients experience of making an appointment was good and our nursing team provide
good listening skills.
The three areas highlighted from the survey that require some improvement are helping our patients to
see their preferred GP, GP’s spending enough time with patients and improving the way our GP’s need to
explain test results and treatments to patients.
We have looked in further detail at the breakdown of results to try and establish what more we can do or
offer to improve our services. Below is a copy of all 23 questions our patients were asked and our results.
Positive Feedback
Our highest satisfaction ratings are shown below;

We are pleased to say that 92% of our patients found our receptionists ‘helpful’ which is above the
national average of 87%. No patients considered us ‘not at all helpful’ which is above the local area
and the national result. We aim to continue to deliver excellent service for our patients and keep
above the national average.

Patients were asked how likely they were to recommend our surgery to someone new to the area,
with 75% answering they would. This reflects the helpful, friendly and professional service that we
as a practice deliver and will continue to do so. 9% said they wouldn’t recommend us;
unfortunately there was no option to add any comments, so we as a surgery must collectively look
at areas that we could improve on.

We are pleased to say that 81% of our patients who were asked find it easy to get through to the
surgery by phone. This is above the national average of 73%. As you can see below, 26% found it
‘very easy’ to get through and 55% found it ‘fairly easy’ to get through which again is above the
national average. 3 patients found it ‘not at all easy to get through’ but unfortunately there was no
option to add comments. With the introduction of patients being able to book appointments and
order prescriptions online, we hope that this will increase patient’s ease of booking an
appointment. We do however; welcome all patient comments and suggestions to help us improve
on this area. Patients are able to leave feedback through our ‘friends and family’ survey’s available
in reception.
Areas to improve on;

Only 41% of patients usually get to see or speak to their preferred GP. This is slightly below the
national average.
The demand to see a preferred GP is extremely high and although most of the time we can supply
GP of choice, Dr Rosa has reduced his face to face working sessions by 78%; only seeing patients for
two sessions a week/. Sadly the demands of General practice dictate his removal of seeing patients
as much as he did. This clearly has been reflected in the results.
Also, Dr Stone is currently on maternity leave, leaving us to use locum GP’s. With Dr Jaya joining as
a full time partner and Dr Asante being here as a full time salaried GP, we are hoping to be able to
provide more stability for patients to see the same doctor. The partners are considering employing
a further GP to help with the increased demand upon the NHS services.
It should be noted that patients are able to see a doctor on the day for emergency services and can
usually book for the following day should the urgency be slightly reduced. We will continue to
monitor demands.

When asked if patients were satisfied with the surgery’s opening hours, 70% of patients were
satisfied, this is 5% below the national average. 3% of patients said they were fairly dissatisfied with
the opening hours of the practice. There is GP service availability 7 days a week through the OOH
system, 111 and local walk in centre. We offer appointments with a GP until 6pm 5 days a week and
our phone lines are open until 6.30pm every weekday.
We also offer Saturday morning appointments for those patients unable to get to the surgery
during the week. These appointments are not for emergencies and only for routine matters. These
appointments must be pre booked.
14% of patients were not sure of the surgery’s opening times. We would like to invite patients to
provide comments and suggestions on how best to advertise our opening times as they are
currently on display on our practice website, practice leaflet, NHS choices website, practice
Facebook page and on our front door.
In conclusion, although the results from this survey only show a minimal representation of our patient
cohort, we will use the feedback to help us improve the areas that have been highlighted.
The practice manager has written to IPSOS to discuss the figures, as the 110 results alleged to have been
received, are not all represented in the answers. They replied explaining that they use weighted figures,
therefore if we have had only female responses of a certain age group, they will delete answers or change
responses to reflect the bigger cohort. They quote ‘For example, if one GP surgery has many more 18-24
year old patients than 75-84 year olds, but only a small number of 18-24 years olds actually fill out the
survey, by applying more weight to the responses from 18-24 year olds, the results of a practice will more
accurately reflect the views of the practice population. Conversely, if the surgery has a smaller number of
18-24 year olds, but received a disproportionally large number of responses from this age group, these
responses are applied less weight. This is where the apparent number of responses go down in order to
take this into account’
We would like to thank all patients who took part in the National GP Survey run by Ipsos MORI and would
like to invite all patients to give comments, suggestions and feedback through our surveys available online
and in reception at the surgery.