Latest news with #GPservices
The Independent
10-07-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Patient satisfaction with GP services improves, survey finds
Patient satisfaction with GP services has improved, new figures suggest. The latest GP patient survey, which is carried out by Ipsos for NHS England, found 75% of 702,000 respondents had a good experience at their practice, up slightly from 74% in 2024. Some 70% also said their overall experience of contacting their family doctor was good, up year-on-year from 67%. Louise Ansari, chief executive at Healthwatch England, said: 'Primary care delivers 90% of the interactions people have with the NHS. 'With public satisfaction in the NHS declining, improvements to how people access care from their GP, pharmacy, dentistry, and other primary care teams is therefore vital. 'It's promising that this year's findings show modest increases in people's overall experiences of GP, including an increase in the number of people given a choice of time, day or location for their most recent appointment, which we know from previous years' results directly links to improvements in overall experience. 'However, our recent research shows there is a gap between the choices people want and the ones they get.' More than half (53%) said it was easy to get in touch with their practice on the phone, up from 50% in 2024, while 51% said it was easy using the practice website, up from 48% last year. Elsewhere, almost half (49%) told the survey it was easy getting in touch using the NHS App, up from 45% 12 months ago. More than one in five people (22%) said they last contacted their practice online, up from 17% in 2024. Those who last contacted their practice on the phone dropped by 68% to 62%. It comes as the Government's 10-year health plan aims to make better use of technology in the health service. Part of the blueprint includes major changes to make the NHS App the 'full front door to the entire' health service. Tim Gardner, assistant director of policy at the Health Foundation, said: 'Shoring up general practice needs to be at the heart of the Government's approach to delivering the 10-year health plan. 'Although improvements are reported in ease of access, over one third of patients still find accessing their general practice difficult, and there are marked differences in experience between those living in the richest and the poorest areas.' Dr Amanda Doyle, NHS England's national director for primary care and community services, said: 'The results reflect patients now being able to use the NHS App for more services, better phone systems to easily book an appointment, and the hard work of our general practice teams – but there is still more to do to improve patients' satisfaction and experience. 'We will introduce further improvements including training more GPs and increasing the number of dentists, building online advice into the NHS App, establishing neighbourhood health centres in every community, and making it even easier to see your general practice team when you need to instead of having to turn to A&E.' Elsewhere, 88% of those who responded to the survey said their experience with pharmacy services was good, up from 87% last year. Reacting to the findings, Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, said: 'While these figures show things are heading in the right direction, we know that there are still patients who are struggling to access the care they need, despite GPs working to their limits and beyond.'
Sky News
03-07-2025
- Health
- Sky News
Wes Streeting admits improving GP services will be a challenge but is one he will 'take on the chin'
Improving NHS GP services will be a challenge but it is one the health secretary will take "on the chin", he told Sky News. The government launched its 10-year plan for the NHS on Thursday, including moving care into the community, digitising the service and focusing on prevention rather than sickness. Labour pledged in its manifesto to "build an NHS fit for the future", including cutting waiting times and the "return of the family doctor". But since coming to power last July, 62 GP surgeries have closed, and 5.8 million people a month waited more than 14 days to see a GP compared with 5.4 million in the same period last year. Health Secretary Wes Streeting told Sky News health correspondent Ashish Joshi: "I take your challenge on the chin about trying to stop practices from closing, trying to stop GPs leaving the profession and to make sure people have an improving experience in general practice. "That's why neighbourhood health is such a big part of the plan. "When I'm reporting back on progress, whether on GPs recruited or the fact NHS waiting lists are the lowest levels in two years, it's not because I think jobs done, I'm not trying to do victory laps or overclaim what we've managed to do. "It's more to report back to a sceptical public that actually, we are moving finally in the right direction. "But I don't doubt for a moment there is more to do and I take that challenge really seriously because we can't succeed without GPs and the NHS will not survive and thrive without bringing back that family doctor relationship." 4:56 Earlier, Sir Keir Starmer said the 10-year plan's aim is to shift care away from under-pressure medical facilities and closer to people's homes, while taking measures to prevent people needing treatment in the first place. Core elements of his plan include a hugely enhanced NHS app to give patients more control over their care and access to more data, new neighbourhood health centres open six days a week and at least 12 hours a day, and new laws on food and alcohol to prevent ill health. He said the government had already done much to turn things around, with new staff in mental health and general practice, 170 new diagnostic services, new surgical hubs, mental health units, ambulance sites, and "record investment right across the system". But he added: "I'm not going to stand here and say everything is perfect now - we have a lot more work to do, and we will do it. "Because of the fair choices we made, the tough Labour decisions we made, the future already looks better for the NHS."
ABC News
26-06-2025
- Health
- ABC News
GP shortages continue to disadvantage people in remote WA despite government efforts
A new report has revealed WA's North West faces the greatest challenge with doctor shortages of anywhere in the state, while local governments in other remote areas are campaigning for the federal government to cover the costs to retain GP services. For the third consecutive year, the Pilbara had the highest proportional movement of GPs out of the region, losing 23.4 per cent of its workforce, according to Rural Health West's report. Further north in the Kimberley region, there has been an 8.1 per cent drop in GPs, and had the lowest number of doctors move into the area. Aboriginal Health Service GP Fiona Cleary in Roebourne, 1,500 kilometres north of Perth, said they had to close a pop-up medical clinic in nearby Karratha for several weeks due to a lack of staff. "Not having access to GPs then puts a second pressure onto the hospital, so then they get all the patients coming in with GP stuff, not emergency stuff," Dr Cleary said. She said access to childcare and the cost of living in the Pilbara contributed to the high turnover rate. The median cost of a rental in Karratha is $1,183 a week, according to a May CoreLogic report. While Dr Cleary's rent is partially subsidised through her organisation, she said it would "definitely deter" her from staying in the region if she had to pay the full price in Karratha. City of Karratha Mayor Daniel Scott said affordable housing continued to be the biggest barrier to attracting health professionals, with nearby towns like Wickham "desperate" for GPs. He said the shire was creating a new housing policy for GPs and allied health services, after a fund supporting GPs recently expired. Dr Cleary's colleague, Aaron Donald, said the high turnover disadvantaged the community's wellbeing. "It can break down care because you don't have the flow of knowing the history, knowing what's been tried before," Dr Donald said. "If you're only here for a year or two, that's a fairly limited amount of time to try to build a relationship where patients trust you". The Kimberley's regional hub of Broome has seen a clinic close, with no prospect of it reopening. The Broome Doctors Practice was vacated last week after closing its doors suddenly in February, leaving patients in the lurch. At the time, Spectrum Health chief executive Philip Coelho was optimistic the clinic would reopen later this year in a newly built surgery. But Mr Coelho confirmed the practice will not be relaunched, citing difficulties in getting doctors to regional areas. "We have removed everything and handed the practice back to the landlord," he said. "The simple reason is because we don't have doctors, or a supervisor, who will go up there." In Western Australia's south, the proportion of GPs leaving the region was lower than in the Pilbara at 13.5 per cent. Six local governments have an alliance to draw attention to the amount they are having to pay to attract GPs to the remote areas and want the federal government to cover the costs. The local governments of Gnowangerup, Jerramungup, Kojonup, Narembeen, Lake Grace, and Ravensthorpe collectively contribute about $1.5 million annually towards GP services. That is not including housing, vehicles, and buildings for the surgeries. The Shire of Narembeen has fewer than 1,000 people, and in the 2023–24 financial year spent $305,000 or 16 per cent of the income from its rates to recruit GPs. Over the same period, the Shire of Lake Grace, with a population of about 1,200 people, paid $250,000 amounting to 7.3 per cent of the rates income. Shire president Len Armstrong said the money should be coming from the federal government. "It takes money away from our core business of providing infrastructure and community structures for our communities," he said. Rural Doctors Association of Western Australia president Clark Wasiun said financial incentives were not the only factor in recruiting GPs. "It's not about throwing money at the doctors," Dr Wasiun said. "If there's better infrastructure in some of these towns, and the most obvious one that comes to mind is childcare services, that will not just encourage them but enable them to go to those more remote towns." Livingston Medical provides GPs to local governments in the alliance. Michael Livingston said they had a "rural generalist hub" model which included working with doctors who were training and ensuring those taking up the roles had proper support. "We reckon we save the state about $14-20 million a year in preventable retrievals, that is when people don't have to be flown out because there's a doctor there who can see to the patient," Dr Livingston said. Mr Armstrong said going through Livingston Medical had reduced the pressure on the Shire of Lake Grace to source its own doctors. "We've only been working under this model for going on two years, we're fairly comfortable with it, we're just not comfortable that we've got to pay a cash component," he said. "We've most probably tried half a dozen different models and methods of getting doctors into our area, even at one stage here in Lake Grace we were flying in and flying out doctors from Albany." The proposal from the six local governments for federal funding was listed for discussion at the recent Australian Local Government Association National General Assembly. Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said the government was considering the findings of the Working Better for Medicare Review, which examined existing policies to attract and distribute the health workforce, including for regional, rural and remote areas. The Rural Clinical School of WA began in 2002 and works with medical students who are in their penultimate and last year of studies. The students undertake training at one of 15 regional sites across the state, and project officer Juliet Bateman said the program was oversubscribed by about 50 per cent. Ms Bateman said the program was limited to the availability of places that met the necessary criteria, including being able to offer appropriate supervision. Dr Wasiun said spending time in a regional area while training could be a game changer. "If there's that exposure to rural places for junior doctors, then you've got a much better chance of that doctor staying in that rural area or moving on to another rural area rather than going back to the city," he said.
