The Health Foundation: What does the 2020 GP patient survey tell us about access to general practice?

Summary

In this short analysis from the Health Foundation, data from the GP patient survey, an annual independent survey run by Ipsos MORI on behalf of NHS England, was used to explore who gets good access to general practice, unpicking how patient satisfaction with the service they receive varies by deprivation, age and ethnicity.

Note: The 2020 GP patient survey data were mostly collected before the COVID-19 pandemic, therefore this analysis doesn’t reflect patient experiences or service changes during the pandemic.

Content

Key findings

• The more deprived the area that a person lives in, the less likely they are to report a positive experience of accessing general practice and a good overall experience of general practice.
• Older patients tend to report better access to general practice – they are more satisfied with their experiences making appointments and find it easier to get through to their practice by phone. However, they are less likely to have used online services.
• Asian patients report poorer experiences making appointments and more difficulty getting through to their GP practice by phone. Black patients are the least likely to have used any online services.
• Differences in experience of and access to general practice observed between demographic groups have been consistent over the past 3 years of survey data (changes in survey method mean that we can’t look any further back).