Healthwatch Shropshire has analysed GP appointment data released by the NHS. The data was a snapshot of the appointments offered during August 2023 by all practices in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin (STW). It covers the number of appointments offered, waiting times for patients, the method used for appointments and the number of cancellations.
Healthwatch Shropshire found that:
- There is significant variation in:
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- the number of appointments practices offer per patient
- the ratio of appointments offered with different types of clinical staff
- the percentages of patients waiting for different lengths of time for appointments from the time of booking
- the percentage of appointments held face-to-face, over the telephone or via video/online channels
- the percentages of patients who do not attend appointments across the different practices
- In STW practices the average percentage of appointments being with GPs was 45.3% compared with 45.5% across England.
- There appears to be no correlation between the number of appointments offered and waiting times.
- The average percentage of appointments carried out face to face in STW is 71.2% which is higher than the national average of 67.9%
- The total number of appointments where patients did not attend was 8,875. If these were 10-minute appointments it is the equivalent of nearly 1,500 hours of clinical staff time in one month.
Lynn Cawley, Chief Officer of Healthwatch Shropshire, said, “We continue to receive patient experience highlighting issues with accessing GP services. As part of our role in helping people understand NHS services we thought it would be helpful for patients if we were to analyse the data released by NHS Digital about General Practice appointments in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.”
“The data does not cover the process of booking appointments and we hear about practices using a variety of systems for patients to book appointments. We would be very interested to hear about patient experience of booking systems, those that work well and those which perhaps don’t work so well. People can share their experience with us by ringing 01743 237884, by email enquiries@healthwatchshropshire.co.uk or online https://www.healthwatchshropshire.co.uk/share-your-views .”
The full report can be found here: https://www.healthwatchshropshire.co.uk/report/2024-01-11/gp-access-shropshire-telford-wrekin
Healthwatch Shropshire is the independent health and social care champion in Shropshire. It gathers the views and experiences of patients, service users, carers, and the general public about services including hospitals, GPs, mental health services, community health services, pharmacists, opticians, residential care and children’s services. It also has statutory powers that it can use to influence service provision by encouraging improvements.
