Patients are starting to find it easier to open the front door of the NHS, according to The King’s Fund’s response to NHS England’s annual GP Patient Survey — though deep inequalities in experience remain.
Beccy Baird, Senior Fellow at The King’s Fund, said the results show people beginning to feel the benefits of improvements being made despite significant pressures on services, as GPs and practice teams continue to deliver around 30 million appointments every month.
“Encouragingly, the survey shows that many patients report a positive experience when contacting their GP practice, with 73% saying their experience of contacting the last time they tried was good,” she said. “This reflects the vital role that effective administration plays in helping people get the information they need to access care.”
Baird pointed to a range of changes helping people get through more easily, including the rollout of the NHS App and online consultation tools. Reception and admin staff remain central to that picture, with 85% of patients saying they are helpful — a rise on previous years.
But the survey of more than 650,000 people also highlights persistent inequalities. “The NHS was founded on the principle that care should be available based on need, not postcode, yet too many people in more deprived communities continue to report worse experiences of care,” Baird said. “Closing that gap is a moral imperative.”
“This direction of travel is absolutely the right one,” she added. “Staying on this path will mean continuing to make it easier for patients to access care while ensuring when they do make it through the front door, they get the support and treatment they need.”
