Insight from the GP review

News - 29 January 2018

Healthwatch visited 29 surgeries in the city as part of the GP review. At each surgery the Healthwatch team observed the patient-friendliness of the environment paying attention to the comfort of the waiting area, appointment call systems, communication with patients, display of information, general hygiene and toilet facilities.
Photograph, wheelchair at front left of image, row of blue chairs alongside

Generally, the surgeries visited demonstrated good patient-friendly environments. Staff were courteous with patients and waiting rooms provided comfortable seating with accessible toilets and relevant information available on noticeboards.

The Healthwatch team rated each surgery on five criteria: information displayed, hygiene and toilets, communication, waiting area environment and the ability to provide feedback. These scores were averaged to produce an overall environment rating.

The average environment rating for surgeries was 8.1 out of 10. This high figure reflected the good scores that many surgeries achieved. Almost three quarters of surgeries (21 out of 29, 72%) rated 8 or above. However, a number rated more poorly, with four surgeries rating less than 7 (13% of surgeries).

Despite the generally good performance on environment by surgeries, some common problems were identified during our visits. Issues raised, included the following:

  • lack of appropriate seating for disabled and elderly patients
  • issues with disabled access to the surgery
  • incomplete or poorly organised noticeboard information
  • poor signposting to toilets
  • unclear patient-calling systems
  • absence of information on how to make a complaint or comment

Environmental reviews formed part of the overall GP review carried out by Healthwatch recently.  The main report which includes findings from the environmental reviews, online and in person patient surveys and practice manager surveys is currently underway and will be published shortly - watch this space!