Oxfordshire's worst GP practices - according to their patients

Today we look at the worst rated in the county after the NHS published the results for its GP Patient Survey, which measures the experiences of patients across a range of different topics, including how easy it is to get through to someone on the phone, the helpfulness of receptionists and satisfaction with the general practice appointment times.

This year around 2.47 million questionnaires sent out to patients aged 16 or over registered with GP practices in England from January to April.

Around 720,000 patients completed and returned a questionnaire, resulting in a national response rate of 29.1 per cent.

READ MORE: Free period products will be available in Oxford

The majority of patients – 72.4 per cent – rated their overall experience of their GP practice as good, with over 1 in 3 rating their experience as “very good”.

However, overall, 55 per cent of people said they had avoided making a GP appointment, up 13 per cent over the past year.

One in seven patients also said they felt isolated from others in the past 12 months, a decrease of 2.6 percentage points compared with 2021 (14.9 per cent).

Botley Medical Centre came last in the county, with only 43 per cent of patients rating their experience at the centre as good and 23 per cent of them describing it as “very poor.”

In addition to this, 53 per cent said it was “not at all easy” to speak on the phone to the practice and only 11 per cent said they usually got to speak with their GP when they needed to.

At the Leys Health Centre, 11 per cent of patients rated their experience as “very poor” and 6 per cent as poor.

READ MORE: Fewer people visited A&E in Oxford according to new NHS data

Out of all the patients from the centre who completed the survey, 40 per cent said they found it “not easy” to get through to the practice by phone.

More than half of the patients also said they don’t feel “they have had enough support from local services or organisations in the last 12 months to help manage their long-term condition.”

At Montgomery House Surgery, in Bicester, only 67 per cent described their overall experience as good.

Twelve per cent said their experience was “very poor” and only 27 per cent said they usually get to see or speak to their preferred GP when they would like to.

Almost half of the patients who completed the survey – 46 per cent – said that it was “not at all easy” to get through to this GP practice by phone.

Read more from this author

This story was written by Anna Colivicchi, she joined the team this year and covers health stories for the Oxfordshire papers. 

Get in touch with her by emailing: Anna.colivicchi@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @AnnaColivicchi