Patients across Fenland have had their say in GP survey by NHS England

A Wisbech GP surgery has one of the lowest patient ratings in the country according to new NHS data.

Every year NHS England surveys patients across the country about the care they receive from their GP surgery across a range of categories including the care they receive and how helpful the receptionists are.

The Clarkson Surgery in De Havilland Road, Wisbech had only 38% of patients who responded to the survey rate their experience overall as ‘good’ – that’s almost half the national average of 71%. The average across Cambridgeshire was 69%.

And it puts the surgery in the bottom 100 nationally with a placing of 6,321 out of 6,402 practices when it came to a “good” overall rating.

A total of 341 surveys were sent out to Clarkson patients and 138 were returned – that’s a 40% completion rate.

However, despite its poor rating it was not the lowest in the county – that accolade went jointly to two Peterborough surgeries: Botolph Bridge Community Health Centre and Bretton Medical Practice, which both scored 38% from their patients. While a Medicus Select Care in Bedfordshire was the rated the worst in the country with just 11% saying they’d had a “good” overall experience.

The survey also had patients rate their surgery in areas such as whether or not they felt their GP treated them with “concern and care” or whether they felt the GP listened to them and whether they had a”good” experience at their last appointment.

Clarkson surgery saw only 25% of its patients who took the time to complete the survey say they had a “good” experience at their last appointment.

However, 74% felt the GP treated them with “care and concern” but that did not translate when it came to having trust and confidence in their GP with only 46% stating they definitely had those feelings.

And only 68% felt their GP listened to them and just over half of the respondents thought the practice’s receptionists were helpful (54%).

Wisbech’s other practices both fared better. North Brink figures showed 74% of the 115 patients who returned the survey said they had an overall “good” experience. Receptionists were highly rated with 92% of patients who responded saying they were helpful – the best in area.

And 80% said the GP treated them with care and concern, 85% said they felt listened to. However, only 60% said their last experience was “good” and only 61% said they trusted their GP.

In all 31% of the 369 survey sent out to the practice’s patients were returned.

Trinity Surgery’s figures were: Overall “good” 72%; trust and confidence in GP 69%; treated with care and concern 82%; felt listened to 84%; “good” last experience 58% and 81% said the receptionists were helpful.

Twenty-eight-per cent of the 466 surveys sent out to Trinity patients were returned (131).

The George Clare Surgery in Chatteris had the second worst rating in the Fenland area with only 56% of its patients saying they had a “good” overall experience.

However, they did feel their GP listened to them with a rating of 91% (the best in our area), and 85% said they were treated with care and concern, but only 71% said they trusted their GP and 37% rated their last experience as “good”. Overall 83% felt the receptionists were helpful.

In March the Riverside Practice had an overall “good” rating of 58 per cent putting it in the bottom 1,000 practices in the country. Only 60 % trusted their GP, 81% felt listened to and 80% said they were treated with care and concern.

The survey completion rate was 34% (120) of 348 survey sent out.

March’s Mercheford House had the following ratings: Overall “good” 70%; trust in GP 68%; treated with concern and care 88%; listened to 84% and helpful receptionists 84%.

Forty-five per cent (112) of the 247 surveys were completed.

Cornerstone, Elwyn Road, March had the following ratings: Overall “good” 72%; trust in GP 63%; treated with concern and care 88%; listened to 89%; “good” last experience 58% and helpful receptionists 89%.

Survey completion rate 40% (115) of 289 sent out.

Fenland Group Practice – which covers Manea, Wimblington, and Doddington was rated as 64% “good” overall; 67% of patients trusted their GP; 81% felt treated with concern and care; 84% felt listened to and 72% said the receptionists were helpful.

Survey completion rate 39% (111) of 283.

Parson Drove Surgery had 62% of patients say they had an “good” overall experience; less than half, 47% trusted their GP; 73% felt they were treated with care, 74% felt listened to and 86% felt the receptionists were helpful.

Nearly half (47%) of the 267 surveys sent to Parson Drove patients were returned (126).

Nationally, 71% of patients gave their GP surgery an overall score of "good".

Great Staughton Surgery had the highest score in our count at 98%.

Only a handful of patients completed the survey at some practices, so the figures may not reflect an accurate picture of each surgery's performance.

The worst rated practice in our area, Botolph Bridge, had 32% of its surveys completed, while the top rated had 50%. Some practices had return rates as low as 10%.

The national figure of 71% overall “good” was down slightly from 72% in 2022 and from 83% in 2021. Worryingly only half of patients who responded said they found it easy to speak to someone at their practice on the phone.