PRESS RELEASE: Healthwatch GP access survey 2023 (15.2.23)
"We are concerned that people are putting off or delaying making a doctor's appointment because they cannot get through on the phone. Some people think their health condition is not serious enough but 13.6% of those people who did not see a GP went straight to A&E, NHS 111, or an Urgent Treatment Centre."
Why did people delay?
- 42% were put off by waiting times: ‘I tried to make one but waited too long on the phone’.
- 32% felt they could wait: ‘I felt that my condition wasn’t serious enough’.
Where did people go instead?
- 9% used the NHS App.
- 10% called NHS111.
- 9% visited Accident and Emergency.
- 5% visited Urgent Treatment Centres or the Minor Injuries Unit
Click here to read the executive summary of our latest report
The Healthwatch survey provides comparative results with a similar survey from June 2020, identifying some trends:
- The proportion of people delaying a GP appointment has increased 56.3% Dec' 2022, 37.4% in June 2020.
- 38.6% of people had used an online GP booking system but a notable 58.8% had not.
- People with disabilities and younger people are more likely to have delayed making a GP appointment.
- Booking online increases with age - 4% more likely to use an online booking system for every year increase in age.
- Those reporting a health problem or disability (53.7%) has increased from the 39.2% in 2020. Those reporting a mental health condition had increased from 17.9% in 2020 (among those reporting a disability) compared to 28.7% in 2022.
The NHS, in response to the Healthwatch report:
“We are committed to ensuring that people across our communities can get the help and support they need. Our key message to the public is that no-one should delay coming forward and accessing NHS care if they are concerned about their health.
“In terms of access to GP services, we recognise how important this is and we have been working with our GP practices to make improvements and this week ‘further increasing access to GP services’ was announced as one of four top priorities for the NHS in Sussex this year.
“We invested more than £3million over the winter to support practices, and will continue to drive forward plans which include increasing the range of health professionals at GP practices, supporting practices to offer evening and weekend appointments, and working with GP practices to improve their phone systems.
“We know that phone lines have been an issue for patients, and some practices have now introduced a new system where incoming calls to practices are via the internet rather than by a phone line, which means it will be easier to get through to your practice. Call back options are also now in place in many practices, so this will mean less waiting in telephone queues.
“We welcome the insight from this Healthwatch report and will make sure it informs the work we have planned for this year, and how further improvements can be delivered.”
Remote or face to face appointments
By far the most popular medium was a mixture of remote and face-to-face depending on condition (65.1%).
Of the alternatives, people generally preferred phone over sending photos (39.9% and 34.9% respectively), appointment by video (34.8%), and other online means (28.9%).
17.1% objected to all remote options and preferred exclusively face-to-face appointments.
GP web sites
Knowing who to contact when the surgery was closed and how to make appointments were the most heavily rated in terms of importance (78.7% and 78.1% respectively rated these as ‘very important’).
Indications of importance, perhaps less expected, were support for mental health issues (71.6% rated as ‘very important’) and concerns over data security (68.6% rated as ‘very important’).
Contact for comment or interviews:
David Liley, Chief Officer, Healthwatch Brighton and Hove
david@healthwatchbrightonandhove.co.uk
07931755343
