A GP patient survey has revealed the easiest and the hardest doctors’ surgeries to book an appointment in Milton Keynes in 2021.
Nationally, patients’ satisfaction with booking a GP appointment is on the rise - despite a public row brewing over whether doctors are seeing enough people face-to-face.
Throughout the UK majority of patients (71%) had a good experience booking an appointment, according to the latest GP Patient Survey, produced by Ipsos MORI on behalf of NHS England. This is up from 65% in the 2020 survey.
But in Milton Keynes many people are still reporting problems and delays in booking appointments, particularly when they want to see their GP face-to-face.
The issue of whether GPs are offering enough face-to-face appointments as Covid-19 restrictions ease remains hotly debated.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid has now unveiled a £250m package for GPs in England to improve access to their services - but only if they increase the number of in-person consultations.
GP groups have responded angrily, accusing ministers of failing to grasp the scale of the staffing crisis affecting surgeries.
The patient survey contacted 2.4 million people from January to April of this year to gather information on how patients feel about their local GP service, and around a third of them responded.
The results reveal the best and worst rated surgeries in each council area, and beyond. The Citizen ran this story here.
They also shed light on people’s experiences of booking an appointment locally.
Here we reveal the GP practices in MK which were voted the easiest and hardest to make an appointment at.
The surgeries are ranked by the proportion of patients who said their experience of booking an appointment was very good or very poor.
We are rating them from the best ranked downwards.
1.
Stonedean Practice in Stony Stratford came out tops with just 1% of respondents saying their booking experience was very poor. 46.4% described it as 'very good' and 34% as fairly good.
2.
Neath Hill Health Centre had an impressive 'very good' rating of 51.6% and a 'very poor' rating of just 1.3%. Close behind was Sovereign Medical Centre (pictured) with a 51% 'very good' rating for booking experience and a 2.8% 'very poor'.
3.
Fishermead Medical Centre fared well in the survey. Just 2.2% of respondents said their booking experience was 'very poor', compared to 31.1% who said it was 'very good'. Another 36.3% described it was 'fairly good'. MK Village surgery had 2.8% of 'very poor' replies, but 46.7% of 'very good', while the figures for CMK Medical Centre were 1.5% very poor and 30% very good.
4.
The Red House Surgery in Bletchley had a 'very poor' rating of just 1.7%. Some 32.9% of respondents said their booking experience was very good and 35.1% fairly good. Next was Walnut Tree Health Centre, where 2.7% said the experience was 'very poor' and 36.5% very good.