Patient Survey

All information on this page has been taken from the GP Patient Survey website at www.gp-patient.co.uk/faq. Please note that a random sample of patients are invited to complete the survey via a paper letter through the post.

What is the Patient Survey?

The GP Patient Survey is designed to give patients the opportunity to feed back about their experiences of their GP practice. The survey asks about your experiences of your local GP practice and other local NHS services, and includes questions about your general health. The survey includes questions about a range of issues, such as how easy or hard it is to make an appointment at your practice, satisfaction with opening hours, the quality of care received from your GP and practice nurses, amongst other things.

The answers we get help the NHS to improve local health services for people like you and your family. GP practices have had to make some changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, so it is more important than ever that we hear about your experiences of your local NHS services – even if you haven’t visited your GP practice in a long time, or if you have taken part in a survey before.

Who is this actually from?

Ipsos, an independent research agency, administers the survey for NHS England.

What is NHS England?

NHS England leads the National Health Service (NHS) in England. It is an arm’s length body of the Department of Health and Social Care with the aim of improving health for people in England. It is responsible for the commissioning of health care services in England, including the contracts for GPs, pharmacists, and dentists. NHS England has asked Ipsos to run the GP Patient Survey. You can find out more about NHS England on the NHS website.

When is the survey sent out?

The survey is sent out every year in January.

Between March 2016 and July 2011 the survey happened twice a year, before that, it was sent out on a quarterly basis (April 2009-March 2011) and before that, every year (January 2007-March 2009).

Why is this survey happening again?

The GP Patient Survey allows patients to feed back their experience of the care and services they receive from their GP practice. We run the GP Patient Survey every year to track change over time and monitor the quality of services. The survey will help the NHS to improve GP practices and other local NHS services so they better meet your needs.

Even if you took part in the survey last year it is important to hear about your more recent experiences.

Who designed the questionnaire?

The questionnaire was originally developed with the University of Exeter and University of Cambridge but is regularly reviewed to ensure it remains up-to-date. All changes are tested with patients using cognitive interviews to ensure that the questionnaire continues to reflect experience and is also easy to read and understand. Minor changes were made to the questionnaire in 2022 to ensure that it continued to reflect how primary care services are delivered and how patients experience them. This followed more substantial changes in 2021.