The definitive information to England’s 6,000 GP practices

How precisely does your native GP follow rank out of the 6,000-plus in England?

Today you may lastly discover out.

Use the interactive Mail+ GP finder beneath to learn how your follow ranks for availability of face-to-face appointments, same-day entry and what number of consultations are carried out by medical doctors.

On prime of that, it compares checklist sizes to indicate what number of sufferers you’re competing with to safe an appointment and whether or not it employs extra receptionists than household medical doctors.

WHERE ARE THE MOST UNDERSTAFFED GPs IN BRITIAN? 

Mail+ has additionally analysed the info to seek out the practices which are most overwhelmed and have the bottom ratio of medical doctors to sufferers.

To accomplish that, we in contrast the numbers of full-time-equivalent (FTE) GPs at every follow in England towards the variety of sufferers registered there.

Comparing FTE charges is taken into account a extra correct measure in contrast with a easy headcount, provided that swathes of medical doctors solely work part-time.

Of practices with a minimum of one FTE, Matrix Medical Practice in Chatham, Kent had the bottom ratio of medics to sufferers (one per 16,550).

 

This was adopted by Wembley’s GP Pathfinder Clinics (one per 16,486) and Blackfriars Medical Practice in Salford (one GP per 14,715).

When assessing areas with fewer than one FTE household physician, the ratio was as excessive as 82,000 for St Peter’s Medical Centre in Leicestershire. It, based on NHS Digital statistics for November, recorded solely 0.08 FTE GPs working there for its 6,597 sufferers.

Health chiefs contemplate any ratio above 1,800 to be unsafe as a result of GPs could really feel rushed or overworked resulting from their affected person case load, rising the chance of lacking early indicators of great sickness.

The Mail discovered 52 per cent of practices had been above the secure threshold.

On the opposite finish of the dimensions, Westbourne Medical Practice in north-west London seemingly had the perfect ratio within the nation, with one GP for each six sufferers.

However, that is more likely to be an information error because the GP follow closed in April final 12 months following the demise of its lead practitioner.

When it involves open practices, Dewey Practice in north-east London had the perfect ratio, logging one physician for each 78 sufferers.

FACE TO FACE APPOINTMENTS 

One continuous battle Britons have confronted for the reason that pandemic is seeing their GP face-to-face.

While extra handy for the GP, and infrequently a affected person, some specialists have raised issues concerning the drop in in-person consultations. In 2021 a coroner warned that distant GP appointments could have contributed to the deaths of 5 individuals.

Pre-pandemic, round 80 per cent of appointments had been carried out in-person. This has since fallen to round 68 per cent.

Our evaluation, primarily based on self-reported follow knowledge, reveals some particular person surgical procedures fell far beneath this stage.

At Hall Grove Group Practice in Hertfordshire, solely 31 of its 7,062 appointments in November had been recorded as being held in-person, about 0.4 per cent, with the overwhelming majority of the others listed as ‘unknown’.

Kennedy Way Surgery in Bristol was one other low performer, with solely 47 of its 4,991 appointments (0.9 per cent) confirmed as being held face-to-face.

Meanwhile, GPs at Studholme Medical Centre in Middlesex solely noticed 1.8 per cent of their sufferers face-to-face in November, with the remaining being ‘unknown’.

SAME DAY APPOINTMENTS

Access to same-day appointments is one other indicator of how good a GP follow is for sufferers.

Chartwell Green Surgery in Southampton was the worst offender, with its 3.8 FTE GPs apparently unable to offer same-day appointments in November.

Medicus Select Care in Enfield, north London, was one other that struggled, with solely 2.9 per cent of its appointments held this manner.

But at some practices seeing a GP in any type of appointment may be the problem.

Many surgical procedures make use of different healthcare professionals, resembling nurses, dietitians and physiotherapists.

At Cordwallis Road Surgery in Berkshire, zero of its 2,268 appointments in November had been recorded as being held with an precise GP, based on the identical self-reported NHS knowledge. This is regardless of the follow having 1.8 FTE medical doctors on its books.

Parkside Medical Centre in Milton Keynes was one other low performer, with simply 2.5 per cent of its 4,700 plus appointments held with a GP.

Our evaluation discovered fewer than half of practices (44 per cent) had 50 per cent of consultations carried out by a household physician.

MORE RECEPTIONISTS THAN DOCTORS 

Separately, our audit discovered GPs had been outnumbered by admin employees resembling receptionists at a price of 20-to-one at one follow.

Matrix Medical Practice, already talked about as one of many GPs with the bottom doctor-to-patient ratios in England, has virtually 24 FTE admin employees on its books.

Similarly, excessive charges had been seen at JS Medical Practice in north-central London (14 admin employees for each FTE GP) and East Lynne Medical Centre in Clacton-on-Sea in Essex (12.8 admin employees for each FTE GP).

Only 452 GP practices in England (7 per cent) had a one-to-one ratio of admin employees to household medical doctors or employed extra medics than receptionists.

We additionally analysed the NHS’s annual GP affected person survey for 2023, which had 759,000 sufferers at main care companies price numerous features of care they obtain.

Another department of Medicus Select Care, this time within the London borough of Islington, obtained the bottom total ranking in England, with solely 11 per cent of sufferers contemplating it ‘good’.

It was adopted by Green Porch Medical Partnership in Sittingbourne, Kent (17 per cent) and Compass Medical Practice, a specialist main care service which treats individuals who have been faraway from different GP affected person lists within the Lancashire area (19 per cent).

In complete, solely 9 main care companies in England achieved an ideal 100 per cent rating.

PHONE LINES 

As a part of the identical survey, sufferers had been additionally requested to rank particular features of how they entry GP companies, together with ease of reaching their GP on the phone.

Patients have repeatedly lamented the ‘Glastonbury-esque’ morning rush to name their household physician in a determined bid to safe an appointment earlier than cellphone traces turn into overwhelmed.

While total 50 per cent of Britons mentioned it was ‘easy’ to get by means of to their GP on the cellphone, some rated their follow’s efficiency as far decrease.

A whopping 97 per cent of sufferers at Lakeside Healthcare Stamford in Lincolnshire and Dashwood Medical Centre in Ramsgate, Kent mentioned it was tough to get by means of to their GP through the cellphone.

Only 21 main care companies in England had 100 per cent of sufferers surveyed price the phone entry to their GP as ‘easy’.

Medicus Select Care’s Islington follow was additionally rated by sufferers as having the least useful receptionists, with 78 per cent dissatisfied.

While 71 per cent of sufferers rated their GP survey pretty much as good, that is the bottom proportion for the reason that survey started in 2017 — when 85 per cent rated their household physician the identical.

OVERALL PATIENT CARE 

The decline in affected person satisfaction comes as GP salaries proceed to rise.

Family medical doctors, who work round three days per week, pocket six-figure salaries, on common.

The wrestle to entry GP appointments is a sophisticated difficulty and medical doctors themselves report being overwhelmed by affected person demand.

Under pointers GPs are instructed not ship greater than 25 appointments every day to make sure ‘safe care’. But some medical doctors are reportedly having to cram in practically 60.

Nationally, the patient-doctor ratio now stands at a median of two,292 — up virtually a fifth in contrast with 2015.

The result’s thousands and thousands of sufferers being rushed by means of appointments, in scenes which have been in comparison with being ‘goods on a factory conveyor belt’.

Struggles to get an appointment have additionally been linked to an increase in A&E attendances .

Despite the pressures confronted in main care, ministers have silently binned a promise to rent 6,000 extra GPs, a significant a part of Boris Johnson‘s election-winning manifesto.

The latest data shows the number of fully qualified FTE GPs working in England stands at 27,483, as of November last year.

While this a growth of 0.3 per cent year-on-year, it is 400 fewer GPs than the figure for November 2021.

Analysts have previously stated they believe another 7,400 family doctors are needed to plug gaps in primary care.

Worsening the staffing crisis is the fact that many GPs are retiring in their 50s, moving abroad or leaving to work in the private sector because of soaring demand, NHS paperwork, and what they see as aggressive media coverage.

This exodus risks exacerbating issues as the remaining family doctors have to take on more and more work, risking burnout.

The data the Mail examined was collected between January and November 2023, depending on the report, and represents the latest comparable figures available.

NHS Digital classifies much of this data as ‘experimental’, a designation that means it’s nonetheless present process analysis for high quality. As GP practices document the info themselves earlier than it’s despatched to the NHS for collation, this will imply errors can happen which may affect the outcomes.